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Results in this brief are from an analysis of the 2018 Guatemala Census. Information on methodology is in the main text of the report and in the method briefs. Additional results are available in Results Table on the DDI website.

Share of Adults with Functional Difficulties

In Guatemala, the share of adults aged 15 and older with any functional difficulty stands at 22.4%. As shown in Table 1, it varies from a low of 8.7% in Petén and to a high of 16% in Centro. In all regions, seeing is the most common type of functional difficulty; self-care and communication are the least common.

Table 1: Guatemala: Share of Adults with Functional difficulties at the Regional Level (%)

Region Any Seeing Hearing Mobility Cognition Self-Care Communication
Centro 16.0 10.0 3.7 4.5 2.6 1.1 1.6
Costa Sur 13.2 9.0 3.4 4.6 2.5 1.1 1.5
Las Verapaces 13.8 9.2 4.0 4.9 2.9 1.1 1.9
Metropolitana 14.1 11.9 3.0 4.6 2.6 1.0 1.3
Noroccidente 13.8 7.1 3.7 3.9 2.8 1.2 1.9
Nororiente 10.4 9.4 3.7 5.2 3.0 1.2 1.9
Occidente 10.7 6.9 3.4 3.6 2.3 1.1 1.5
Petén 8.7 6.2 2.5 3.0 1.6 0.8 1.1
Suroriente 12.7 9.2 3.7 5.6 3.5 1.2 1.7
National 12.6 8.8 3.5 4.4 2.6 1.1 1.6

Notes: ‘Any’ is the share of adults with any level of difficulty (some difficulty, a lot of difficulty or unable to do in one or more functional domains. For instance, ‘Seeing’ is the share of adults with difficulty in seeing of any level. Shares for the six domains do not add up to the share of any difficulty as some individuals may have functional difficulties in more than one domain. Source: Own calculations based on the 2018 Guatemala Census.

Multidimensional Poverty

Multidimensional poverty captures an individual’s experience of multiple deprivations (e.g. low educational attainment, having inadequate living conditions). In Guatemala, the shares of persons with at least a lot of functional difficulty and some difficulty who are multidimensionally poor stands at 86.7 and 79%, respectively. This is higher than that of persons with no difficulty at 76.3%.

Thus, there is a disability gap in multidimensional poverty between persons with at least a lot of difficulty and no difficulty (10.4 percentage points) and between persons with some difficulty and no difficulty (2.7 percentage points). In other words, persons in Guatemala with functional difficulties more frequently experience multiple deprivations than persons without difficulty. As illustrated in Figure 1/Table 2, multidimensional poverty is common across regions among adults with functional difficulties. Multidimensional poverty is least common among persons with functional difficulties in Metropolitana.

Figure 1: Guatemala: multidimensional poverty headcount among adults with no, some and at least a lot of difficulty (%)

Figure 1a: Adults with no difficulty

Figure 1a maps the share of adults with any difficulty at the regional level in Guatemala

Figure 1b: Adults with some difficulty

Figure 1b maps the share of adults with some difficulty at the regional level in Guatemala

Figure 1c: Adults with at least a lot of difficulty

Figure 1c maps the share of adults with at least a lot of difficulty at the regional level in Guatemala

Legend of Figure 1 This is the legend for different categories of the multidimensional poverty headcount from a low of 40 to 49.9% to a high of 90% and above.

Source: Own calculations based on Guatemala census  data (2018). The notes of Table 1 apply.

 

Table 2 (Supporting figure 1): Guatemala: Multidimensional poverty headcount among adults with no, some and at least a lot of difficulty (%)

Region No difficulty Some difficulty At least a lot of difficulty
Centro 72.3 72.8 82.4
Costa Sur 73.1 78.4 86.9
Las Verapaces 89.2 89.6 92.4
Metropolitana 46.4 48.6 63.1
Noroccidente 90.0 89.9 94.9
Nororiente 75.5 80.3 87.1
Occidente 81.6 82.1 90.6
Petén 81.7 85.2 91.9
Suroriente 76.6 84.0 90.9
National 76.3 79.0 86.7