ANNUAL POVERTY REPORT
By the numbers.
Children raised in poverty start life at a big disadvantage. Being poor means more than just not having money – it means material, social and emotional deprivation, as well as impoverished living conditions and less access to services. Poverty creates obstacles to children’s survival, development, protection and participation in decisions that affect their lives. These effects can last a lifetime, and be passed on to the next generation.
Welcome to the life of a child growing up in Guatemala.
Data compiled by The Many Faces of Exclusion, End of Childhood Report 2021
This assault on childhood deprives nations of energy and talent they need to progress.
Suffering violence, witnessing violence or fearing violence can cause lifelong disabilities and deep emotional trauma. Separation from family members and economic hardship can expose girls and boys to exploitation in the forms of child labor, child marriage, sexual violence and recruitment into use by armed groups. But the less visible dangers for children in conflict are caused by lack of food and the collapse of essential services such as health care, sanitation and education. The loss of basic necessities required for a fulfilled childhood threatens both the immediate survival and long-term future of children.
As a whole, based upon their scoring index that measures the following Childhood Ending Indicators, Guatemala scored a 642, ranking 163 out of 186 countries, giving it the one of the worst score in Latin America. The scores measure the extent to which children in each country experience “childhood enders” such as death, chronic malnutrition, being out of school and being forced into adult roles of work, marriage and motherhood.
28.5%
INFANT MORTALITY RATE
(COMPARE TO 6.5% IN US)
20%
GIRLS AGED 15-19 MARRIED
(COMPARE TO 3.5% IN US)
69.8
BIRTHS PER 1,000 GIRLS AGED 15-19
(COMPARE TO 18.6 IN US)
25.8%
CHILDREN ENGAGED IN CHILD LABOR
(COMPARE TO 0% IN US)
59.3% POVERTY RATE
23% OF THE POPULATION LIVES IN EXTREME POVERTY
33% OF CHILDREN LIVING IN INSTITUTIONS ARE THERE BECAUSE OF POVERTY
46.5% CHILDREN
SUFFER FROM CHRONIC HUNGER
ONE OF THE HIGHEST MALNOURISHMENT RATES IN THE WORLD
1 OUT OF 4
PEOPLE OVER THE AGE OF 15 ARE UNABLE TO READ
25% CHILDREN
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY AGE ARE NOT IN SCHOOL
The Good News
Casa Bernabé Ministries exists to provide hope for vulnerable children in Guatemala, both within the walls of its campus and also within the surrounding community. We are serving on the front lines of hopelessness. Our ministry seeks to provide the framework needed for each child to step out from the past trauma of their lives by providing physical needs, medical and psychological care, and spiritual guidance. Children are ministered to in church and youth group and educated in the Christian school on campus. Lives are transformed as the ties of generational poverty and abuse are broken.
By working with the Guatemalan court systems and biological families Casa Bernabé Ministries is leading the way in Guatemalan Global Orphan Care.
