Guatemala

The Maya 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 internal conflict.

• tropical;
• hot, humid in lowlands;
• cooler in highlands

highest point:

Volcan Tajumulco (highest point in Central America) 4,220 m

lowest point:

Pacific Ocean 0 m

mean elevation:

759 m

• the vast majority of the populace resides in the southern half of the country, particularly in the mountainous regions;
• more than half of the population lives in rural areas

noun:

Guatemalan(s)

adjective:

Guatemalan

• Spanish (official) 69.9%, Maya languages 29.7% (Q'eqchi' 8.3%, K'iche 7.8%, Mam 4.4%, Kaqchikel 3%, Q'anjob'al 1.2%, Poqomchi' 1%, other 4%), other 0.4% (includes Xinca and Garifuna);
• note - the 2003 Law of National Languages officially recognized 23 indigenous languages, including 21 Maya languages, Xinca, and Garifuna (2018 est.)

major-language sample(s):

La Libreta Informativa del Mundo, la fuente indispensable de información básica. (Spanish); The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

total:

24.4 years (2023 est.)

male:

23.8 years

female:

25 years

• the vast majority of the populace resides in the southern half of the country, particularly in the mountainous regions;
• more than half of the population lives in rural areas

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.81 male(s)/female

total population:

0.98 male(s)/female (2023 est.)

total:

25.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)

male:

28.8 deaths/1,000 live births

female:

22.2 deaths/1,000 live births

total population:

73.2 years (2023 est.)

male:

71.2 years

female:

75.3 years

degree of risk:

high (2023)

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases:

dengue fever and malaria

total:

1.63 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

beer:

0.9 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

wine:

0.05 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

spirits:

0.68 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

other alcohols:

0.01 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

total:

10.9% (2020 est.)

male:

20.1% (2020 est.)

female:

1.6% (2020 est.)

• deforestation in the Peten rainforest;
• soil erosion;
• water pollution

• tropical;
• hot, humid in lowlands;
• cooler in highlands

urban population:

53.1% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization:

2.59% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

particulate matter emissions:

20.75 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions:

16.78 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions:

10.7 megatons (2020 est.)

municipal:

840 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial:

600 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural:

1.89 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

conventional long form:

Republic of Guatemala

conventional short form:

Guatemala

local long form:

República de Guatemala

local short form:

Guatemala

etymology:

• the Spanish conquistadors used many native Americans as allies in their conquest of Guatemala;
• the site of their first capital (established in 1524), a former Maya settlement, was called "Quauhtemallan" by their Nahuatl-speaking Mexican allies, a name that means "land of trees" or "forested land", but which the Spanish pronounced "Guatemala";
• the Spanish applied that name to a re-founded capital city three years later and eventually it became the name of the country

name:

Guatemala City

geographic coordinates:

14 37 N, 90 31 W

time difference:

UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

etymology:

• the Spanish conquistadors used many native Americans as allies in their conquest of Guatemala;
• the site of their first capital (established in 1524), a former Maya settlement, was called "Quauhtemallan" by their Nahuatl-speaking Mexican allies, a name that means "land of trees" or "forested land", but which the Spanish pronounced "Guatemala";
• the Spanish applied that name to a re-founded capital city three years later and eventually it became the name of the country

• 22 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento);
• Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, Chimaltenango, Chiquimula, El Progreso, Escuintla, Guatemala, Huehuetenango, Izabal, Jalapa, Jutiapa, Peten, Quetzaltenango, Quiche, Retalhuleu, Sacatepequez, San Marcos, Santa Rosa, Solola, Suchitepequez, Totonicapan, Zacapa

history:

• several previous;
• latest adopted 31 May 1985, effective 14 January 1986;
• suspended and reinstated in 1994

amendments:

• proposed by the president of the republic, by agreement of 10 or more deputies of Congress, by the Constitutional Court, or by public petition of at least 5,000 citizens;
• passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote by the Congress membership and approval by public referendum, referred to as "popular consultation";
• constitutional articles such as national sovereignty, the republican form of government, limitations on those seeking the presidency, or presidential tenure cannot be amended;
• amended 1993

citizenship by birth:

yes

citizenship by descent only:

yes

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

5 years with no absences of six consecutive months or longer or absences totaling more than a year

• 18 years of age;
• universal;
• note - active duty members of the armed forces and police by law cannot vote and are restricted to their barracks on election day

chief of state:

• President Alejandro GIAMMATTEI (since 14 January 2020);
• Vice President Cesar Guillermo CASTILLO Reyes (since 14 January 2020);
• note - the president is both chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Alejandro GIAMMATTEI (since 14 January 2020); Vice President Cesar Guillermo CASTILLO Reyes (since 14 January 2020)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the president

elections/appointments:

• president and vice president directly elected on the same ballot by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 4-year term (not eligible for consecutive terms);
• election last held on 25 June 2023 with a runoff on 20 August 2023 (next to be held in June 2027)

election results:

• 2023: Bernardo ARÉVALO de León elected president in second round;
• percent of vote in first round - Sandra TORRES (UNE) 21%;
• Bernardo ARÉVALO de León (SEMILLA) 15.6%, Manuel CONDE Orellana (VAMOS) 10.4%;
• Armando CASTILLO Alvarado (VIVA) 9.6%, other 43.4%;
• percent of vote in second round - Bernardo ARÉVALO de León 60.9%, Sandra TORRES 39.1%;
• note - ARÉVALO is scheduled to take office 14 January 2024

;

• 2019: Alejandro GIAMMATTEI elected president;
• percent of vote in first round - Sandra TORRES (UNE) 25.5%, Alejandro GIAMMATTEI (VAMOS) 14%, Edmond MULET (PHG) 11.2%, Thelma CABRERA (MLP) 10.4%, Roberto ARZU (PAN-PODEMOS) 6.1%, other 32.8%;
• percent of vote in second round - Alejandro GIAMMATTEI 58%, Sandra TORRES 42%

description:

unicameral Congress of the Republic or Congreso de la Republica (160 seats; 128 members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies in the country's 22 departments and 32 directly elected in a single nationwide constituency by closed party-list proportional representation vote, using the D'Hondt method; members serve 4-year terms)

elections:

last held on 25 June 2023 (next to be held in June 2027)

election results:

• percent of vote by party - NA;
• seats by party - VAMOS 39, UNE 28, SEMILLA 23, CABAL 18, Valor-Unionist 12, VIVA 11, TODOS 6, VOS 4, BIEN 4, CREO 3, PPN 3, Victoria 3, Blue 2, Elephant 2, Change 1, Winaq-URNG 1;
• composition - men 128, women 32, percent of women 20%

highest court(s):

• Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (consists of 13 magistrates, including the court president and organized into 3 chambers);
• note - the court president also supervises trial judges countrywide;
• note - the Constitutional Court or Corte de Constitucionalidad of Guatemala resides outside the country's judicial system;
• its sole purpose is the interpretation of the constitution and to see that the laws and regulations are not superior to the constitution (consists of 5 titular magistrates and 5 substitute magistrates)

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court magistrates elected by the Congress of the Republic from candidates proposed by the Postulation Committee, an independent body of deans of the country's university law schools, representatives of the country's law associations, and representatives of the Courts of Appeal;
• magistrates elected for concurrent, renewable 5-year terms;
• Constitutional Court judges - 1 elected by the Congress of the Republic, 1 by the Supreme Court, 1 by the president of the republic, 1 by the (public) University of San Carlos, and 1 by the Assembly of the College of Attorneys and Notaries;
• judges elected for renewable, consecutive 5-year terms;
• the presidency of the court rotates among the magistrates for a single 1-year term

subordinate courts:

Appellate Courts of Accounts, Contentious Administrative Tribunal, courts of appeal, first instance courts, child and adolescence courts, minor or peace courts

• Bienestar Nacional or BIEN [Fidel REYES LEE]
• Blue Party (Partido Azul) or Blue [Jorge VILLAGRÁN]
• CABAL [Edmond MULET]
• Cambio [Manuel BALDIZÓN]
• Citizen Prosperity or PC [Hernan MEJIA and Jorge GARCIA SILVA]
• Commitment, Renewal, and Order or CREO [Rodolfo NEUTZE]
• Elephant Community (Comunidad Elefante) or Elephant [Hugo PEÑA Medina]
• Everyone Together for Guatemala or TODOS [Felipe ALEJOS]
• Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity or URNG-MAIZ or URNG [Walter FELIX]
• Humanist Party of Guatemala or PHG [Rudio MERIDA]
• Movement for the Liberation of Peoples or MLP [Thelma CABRERA and Vincenta JERONIMO]
• Movimiento Semilla or SEMILLA [Bernardo ARÉVALO de León]
• National Advancement Party or PAN [Manuel CONDE]
• National Convergence Front or FCN-NACION [Javier HERNANDEZ]
• National Unity for Hope or UNE [Adim MALDONADO]
• Nationalist Change Union or UCN [Carlos ROJAS and Sofia HERNANDEZ] (dissolved 16 December 2021)
• Nosotros or PPN [Rudy GUZMAN and Nadia de LEÓN Torres]
• PODEMOS [Jose LEON]
• Political Movement Winaq or Winaq [Sonia GUTIERREZ Raguay]
• TODOS [Felipe ALEJOS]
• Value or VALOR [Zury RIOS and Lucrecia MARROQUIN]
• Vamos por una Guatemala Diferente or VAMOS [Alejandro GIAMMATTEI]
• Victory or VICTORIA [ Juan Carlos RIVERA]
• Vision with Values or VIVA [Armando Damian CASTILLO Alvarado]
• Will, Opportunity and Solidarity (Voluntad, Oportunidad y Solidaridad) or VOS [Orlando BLANCO]

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Chargé d'Affaires Patrick VENTRELL (since August 2023)

embassy:

Avenida Reforma 7-01, Zone 10, Guatemala City

mailing address:

3190 Guatemala Place, Washington DC 20521-3190

telephone:

[502] 2326-4000

FAX:

[502] 2326-4654

email address and website:

[email protected]; https://gt.usembassy.gov/

• three equal vertical bands of light blue (hoist side), white, and light blue, with the coat of arms centered in the white band;
• the coat of arms includes a green and red quetzal (the national bird) representing liberty and a scroll bearing the inscription LIBERTAD 15 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 1821 (the original date of independence from Spain) - all superimposed on a pair of crossed rifles signifying Guatemala's willingness to defend itself and a pair of crossed swords representing honor - and framed by a laurel wreath symbolizing victory;
• the blue bands represent the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea;
• the white band denotes peace and purity

note: one of only two national flags featuring a firearm, the other is Mozambique

name:

"Himno Nacional de Guatemala" (National Anthem of Guatemala)

lyrics/music:

Jose Joaquin PALMA/Rafael Alvarez OVALLE

note: adopted 1897, modified lyrics adopted 1934; Cuban poet Jose Joaquin PALMA anonymously submitted lyrics to a public contest calling for a national anthem; his authorship was not discovered until 1911

total World Heritage Sites:

4 (3 cultural, 1 mixed)

selected World Heritage Site locales:

• Antigua Guatemala (c);
• Tikal National Park (m);
• Archaeological Park and Ruins of Quirigua (c);
• National Archaeological Park Tak'alik Ab'aj (c)

• growing Central American economy;
• unique South Korean business relations;
• high poverty, inequality, and malnutrition;
• low government revenues impede educational, sanitation, and healthcare efforts;
• high migration, child labor, and remittances

Fitch rating:

BB- (2020)

Moody's rating:

Ba1 (2010)

Standard & Poors rating: BB- (2017)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

total:

7.2% (2021 est.)

male:

6.3%

female:

9.4%

on food:

41.2% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

on alcohol and tobacco:

1.6% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

lowest 10%:

1.6%

highest 10%:

38.4% (2014)

production:

0 metric tons (2020 est.)

consumption:

2.28 million metric tons (2020 est.)

exports:

0 metric tons (2020 est.)

imports:

2.376 million metric tons (2020 est.)

proven reserves:

0 metric tons (2019 est.)

total petroleum production:

10,300 bbl/day (2021 est.)

refined petroleum consumption:

112,600 bbl/day (2019 est.)

crude oil and lease condensate exports:

6,700 bbl/day (2018 est.)

crude oil and lease condensate imports:

0 bbl/day (2018 est.)

crude oil estimated reserves:

86.1 million barrels (2021 est.)

production:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

consumption:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

exports:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

imports:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

proven reserves:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

general assessment:

• Guatemala’s telecom infrastructure has suffered from years of under investment from state and provincial government;
• the poor state of fixed-line infrastructure has led to Guatemala having one of the lowest fixed-line teledensities in the region;
• in many rural regions of the country there is no fixed-line access available, and so mobile services are adopted by necessity;
• private investment has been supported by government and regulatory efforts, resulting in a steady growth in the number of fixed lines which has supported growth in the fixed broadband segment;
• delays in launching LTE services left the country lagging behind in the development of mobile broadband and the benefits which it can bring to the country's social and economic growth;
• two new submarine cables are due for completion by 2022;
• improved international connectivity should drive further uptake of both fixed and mobile broadband services;
• intense competition among the networks has helped to improve services and lower prices for end-users;
• given the commercial impetus of networks, insufficient government financial investment has resulted in many regional areas remaining with poor or non-existent services;
• the country benefits from one of the most open regulatory frameworks, with all telecom sectors having been open to competition since 1996;
• mobile subscriptions are on par with the regional average, though the slower growth in the mobile subscriber base suggests a level of market saturation, with the emphasis among networks being on generating revenue via mobile data services (2021)

domestic:

• fixed-line teledensity roughly 13 per 100 persons;
• fixed-line investments are concentrating on improving rural connectivity;
• mobile-cellular teledensity about 126 per 100 persons (2021)

international:

• country code - 502;
• landing points for the ARCOS, AMX-1, American Movil-Texius West Coast Cable and the SAm-1 fiber-optic submarine cable system that, together, provide connectivity to South and Central America, parts of the Caribbean, and the US;
• connected to Central American Microwave System;
• satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2019)

• 4 privately owned national terrestrial TV channels dominate TV broadcasting;
• multi-channel satellite and cable services are available;
• 1 government-owned radio station and hundreds of privately owned radio stations (2019)

number of registered air carriers:

3 (2020); inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 5

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

145,795 (2018)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

110,000 (2018) mt-km

total:

800 km (2018)

narrow gauge:

800 km (2018) 0.914-m gauge

note: despite the existence of a railway network, all rail service was suspended in 2007 and no passenger or freight train currently runs in the country (2018)

total:

17,440 km (2020)

paved:

7,458 km (2020)

unpaved:

9,982 km (2020) (includes 4,548 km of rural roads)