Guatemala

Guatemala: steady but modest growth, 1980–2025

Central America's largest economy relies heavily on agriculture, remittances from a large diaspora in the United States, and light manufacturing, with growth steady but constrained by weak public investment. Between 1980 and 2025, Guatemala's GDP per capita grew from $1,142 to $6,598 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 4.0% — steady but modest growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 3.1% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 2.1 points, reflecting relatively stable macroeconomic conditions. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 24.8% to 9.6% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 53.2% to 62.1% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 55.3 to 72.7 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 5.4% to 27.3%, while the urban population share grew from 32.8% to 56.3%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 0.68 to 1.11 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) narrowed from 54.1 to 45.2; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 47.4% to 9.7%.