Population
source: http://watercharity.org/images/ostrow/chuaparal.jpg
Guatemala is a small country with a population of roughly 14 million people as of 2011. The ehtnicity of Guatemala is made of Meztizo which is a mixture of spanish and native people races, along with mayan. The Meztizo account for 60% of the population. Life expectancy is 71.17 years. about 50% of the population lives in urban areas. The largest city in Guatemala is Guatemala city it has a population of roughly 1 million inhabitants. Guatemala consists of three major regions, the highlands which have the highest population densities, the tropical area along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, and the tropical jungle located in the
northern lowlands know as Petén [1].
Guatemala has the highest rate of growth in all of Latin America with a rate of 2.5%, although in the past 20 years the rate of fertility has declined substantially from 5.6 chlidren per woman in 1986 to an average 3.6 reported in 2008/2008. if the current rate of fertility remains unchanged the population is projected to double in 26 years. Women in Guatemala have indicated that they would like to have fewer than 3 children. the reduction in fertility rates can be attributed to an increase in family planning, where 44% of women use a modern family planning method such as female sterilization and injectable contraceptives. On the other hand 31% of married women would to postpone or avoid pregnancy but have not employed an effective contraceptive method.[2]. The figure below displays the age and sex structure for 2010 as well as the projected structure for 2050
Source: United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision (2011).
Emmigration
During the forty years of turmoil resulting from social unrest and civil war which lasted from 1956-1996 large numbers of people emigrated to Mexico and the United States which has been estimated to have resulted in 1 million people either dead, dissapeared, or emigrated. Some of the people who emigrated have returned from UN refugee camps set up in Mexico, as well as those who emigrated to the United States[3]. My mother told me how when she was a small girl the dictator that was in power at the time, Efrain Rios Montt would televise the execution of people. You would see the person blindfolded in front of a firing squad, then they would pan the camera away and shoot the person, then you would hear when they gave the deathblow to the head. Below is an image of Guatemalan women holding portraits of loved ones lost during the turmoil.
Source: http://www.cja.org/article.php?id=361
[1] http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0107596.html
[2]http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2011/world-population-data-sheet/guatemala.aspx
[3] http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Guatemala.html
