Facts About Ecuador

1.) There are over 40 indigenous nations and they make up 40% of the population

2.) More than 65% of the Ecuadorian population subsist on under $1.00 a day

3.) 45% of Ecuadorian children under 5 years old are malnourished

4.) Ecuador’s area is 256,370 sq. kms. – roughly the size of the state of Nevada

5.) Mt. Chimborazo is the highest point in Ecuador at 6,310 metres

6.) Quichua indigenous people make up 67% of the population in the Province of Chimborazo

7.) Poverty afflicts more than 91% of the rural population in the Province of Chimborazo with nearly 60% living in extreme poverty.

8.) In the Province of Chimborazo, there are 100 deaths for every 1000 live births

9.) Nearly 70% of Ecuador’s children live in poverty

10) Approximately 430,000 of Ecuador’s children aged between 5 and 17 years of age work

11)  Only 39% of Ecuador’s indigenous children complete primary school

12) Seven out of ten of Ecuador’s children under one year of age and 60% of pregnant women suffer from anemia

13) The rural indigenous communities in Ecuador are the most poverty stricken. They suffer from desperate living condition, low schooling levels, high unemployment, minimal access to health services and social & economic exclusion

14) 42.5% of the indigenous population of Ecuador are illiterate

15) Six out of ten working children in Ecuador live in rural areas and most of them are engaged in unpaid agricultural labours as part of their family obligations.

16) 50% of Ecuador’s children are working by the age of 10:  in domestic service, construction, commerce mines, or on farms.

17) In Ecuador in 1999, one half of the children came from a family that was not able to pay for food, housing, education, and medical care

18) 20.5% of the children in Ecuador are forced to start work at ages between 5 and 9 years.  53% between 10 and 14 years.

19) In 2003, the average per capita income in Ecuador was $1790US per year

20) Because of the economic crisis in Ecuador in the last 6 years, poverty has increased by 50% and now afflicts three-quarters of the population

21) In Ecuador teachers are very poorly paid, have no incentives, and strikes are very frequent & last for months.

22) In Ecuador 1/3 of schools have only one teacher, school buildings are often in poor condition, and there are very few books and other teaching materials.

23) In Ecuador many children suffer from malnutrition and many schools lack access to clean drinking water and toilets

24) An indigenous female in Ecuador without education will enter womanhood as an “empleada” or maid making $8.00 a month and barely making enough to live

25) In Ecuador widespread poverty forces families to send their children as young as 7, to full-time work.  Most of these children never complete elementary school.