Some of which were the force behind the 36 year war that took place. And if they are not dealt with the country will not be able improve from their current status quo.
In Guatemala, the wide gulf between a small and wealthy elite, and a large and impoverished lower class is very evident. The inequities worsened in the 20th century, as the population increased and more resources were devoted to producing exports. Although a significant middle class has developed in urban areas, some 40 percent of Guatemalans survive on less than $U.S. 1 per day. It is estimated that 17 percent of the population is undernourished. According to 1987 statistics, the top 10 percent of the population received 44 percent of the income, and the bottom 10 percent received 0.9 percent. Poverty affects both urban and rural Guatemalans, but rural residents, including most of the Maya population, generally live under harsher conditions. More than 70 percent of rural residents are classified as living in extreme poverty, compared to 36 percent of urban inhabitants (www.encarta.com).
The problems of the middle and poorer classes have been major issues in ongoing political struggles throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. The widespread abuse of human rights has also become a domestic and international issue, after years in which the military-dominated governments repressed any opposition and massacred entire villages to discourage support for guerrillas (Vassileva). .
Progress in Guatemala was put at a halt when the civil war broke out, and is now trying to recuperate. In 1999, unemployment was slightly more than 4 percent, but an estimated 31.5 percent were underemployed. A minimum-wage law (requiring wages of from $2.50 to $5 per day) went into effect in 1992, which helped keep wages ahead of inflation through 1994. Labor organizers have been labeled "Communists," and many were killed, tortured, or exiled under military regimes that governed from 1931 to 1944 and from 1954 to 1985.