Guatemala
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Guatemala is Central American nation located between Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Belize. It's western coast fronts to Pacific Ocean and its shorter eastern coast fronts the Gulf of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea.
Its main environmental issues include deforestation in the Petenes rainforest; soil erosion; and water pollution.
The Mayan civilization flourished in Guatemala and surrounding regions during the first millennium A.D. After almost three centuries as a Spanish colony, Guatemala won its independence in 1821. During the second half of the 20th century, it experienced a variety of military and civilian governments, as well as a 36-year guerrilla war. In 1996, the government signed a peace agreement formally ending the conflict, which had left more than 100,000 people dead and had created, by some estimates, some 1 million refugees.
Geography
Location: Central America, bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between El Salvador and Mexico, and bordering the Gulf of Honduras (Caribbean Sea) between Honduras and Belize
Geographic Coordinates: 15 30 N, 90 15 W
Area: total: 108,890 sq km (108,430 sq km land and 460 sq km water)
Coastline: 400 km
Maritime Claims: Territorial sea to 12 nautical miles; Exclusive economic zone to 200 nautical miles; Continental shelf to 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Natural Hazards: Numerous volcanoes in mountains, with occasional violent earthquakes; Caribbean coast extremely susceptible to hurricanes and other tropical storms.
Terrain: Mostly mountains with narrow coastal plains and rolling limestone plateau.
Climate: Tropical; hot, humid in lowlands; cooler in highlands.
Capital: Guatemala City
Ecology and Biodiversity
The Biodiversity throughout Mesoamerica primarily consists of complex mosaic of dry forest, lowland moist forest, and montane forest ecosystems.
The country has7 terrestrial ecoregions. Along the border with Mexico lies the Chiapas Depression dry forests. The Central American dry forests and Central American montane forests run through Guatemala. A patch of the Belizian pine forests ecoregion is located in northeast Guatemala. One of the driest areas in Central America, the Motagua Valley area, is the location of the Motagua Valley thornscrub. Along the Yucatán Peninsula lies the Yucatán dry forests ecoregion. The Central American pine-oak forests ecoregion spans southern Guatemala.
Guatemala is also surrounded by four coastal ecoregions as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. The Tehuantepec-El Manchon mangroves extend along the Gulf of Tehuantepec. In patches along the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula runs the Petenes mangroves ecoregion. On the Guatemala's Caribbean coast are the Northern Honduras mangroves and on its Pacific coast are the Northern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves. The Pacific Central-American Coastal large marine ecosystem runs along the Pacific coast of Central America.
Protected Areas
Tikal National Park is within the Department of Petén in north-eastern Guatemala. The nearest major town is Santa Elena in the municipality of Flores. The park is contained within the Maya Biosphere Reserve which encompasses over 10% of Guatemala's land area. The park forms a block to the south east of the Biosphere Reserve, adjacent to the San Miguel La Palotada Biotope to the west, and bounded in the south by a 10-15 kilometers (km) wide Biosphere Reserve Buffer Zone to the south. The northern and eastern boundaries are surrounded by a multiple-use area which adjoins the protected areas within the Biosphere Reserve.
International Environmental Agreements
Guatemala is party to international agreements on Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling.
People and Society
Population: 13,276,517 (July 2009 est.)
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 39.4% (male 2,664,058/female 2,573,006)
15-64 years: 56.8% (male 3,655,184/female 3,884,331)
65 years and over: 3.8% (male 231,652/female 268,286) (2009 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 2.066% (2009 est.)
Birthrate: 28.55 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death Rate: 5.19 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net Migration Rate: -2.21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 70.29 years
Total Fertility Rate: 3.47 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Languages: Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca)
Literacy: 69.1%
Economy
Guatemala is the most populous of the Central American countries with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP} per capita roughly one-half that of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. The agricultural sector accounts for about one-tenth of GDP, two-fifths of exports, and half of the labor force. Coffee, sugar, and bananas are the main products, with sugar exports benefiting from increased global demand for ethanol. The 1996 signing of peace accords, which ended 36 years of civil war, removed a major obstacle to foreign investment, and Guatemala since then has pursued important reforms and macroeconomic stabilization. The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) entered into force in July 2006 and has since spurred increased investment in the export sector, but concerns over security, the lack of skilled workers and poor infrastructure continued to hamper foreign participation. The distribution of income remains highly unequal with more than half of the population below the national poverty line. Other ongoing challenges include increasing government revenues, negotiating further assistance from international donors, curtailing drug trafficking and rampant crime, and narrowing the trade deficit. Given Guatemala's large expatriate community in the United States, it is the top remittance recipient in Central America, with inflows serving as a primary source of foreign income equivalent to nearly two-thirds of exports. Economic growth will slow in 2009 as export demand from US and other Central American markets drop and foreign investment slows amid the global slowdown.
GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity): $68.02 billion (2008 est.)
GDP: (Official Exchange Rate): $36.28 billion (2008 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: 3.8% (2008 est.)
GDP- per capita (PPP): $5,200 (2008 est.)
GDP- composition by sector:
agriculture: 13.2%
industry: 25.8%
services: 61% (2008 est.)
Industries: sugar, textiles and clothing, furniture, chemicals, petroleum, metals, rubber, tourism
Natural Resources: petroleum, nickel, rare woods, fish, chicle, hydropower
Currency: Quetzales (GTQ)
Energy
See Energy profile of Central America
Further Reading
Return to Guatemala's country profile
Return to the Latin America and the Caribbean Collection
Editor's Notes
- A more detailed country profile on Guatemala may be found at: The CIA World Fact Book.
- Visit Guatemala Website.
- Website of the Government of Guatemala (en español).