are not able to gather sufficient resources to mitigate such emergencies, such as insurance against risk. Hence, the occurrence of such events would have recurring effects on rural dwellers, pushing them into greater poverty. Inequality and social exclusion Poverty appears to be largely concentrated within the regional groupings in Guatemala. To illustrate, comparisons between urban, rural and indigenous, non-indigenous people have shown that the non-indigenous groups fare considerably better than their indigenous contemporaries, comparable on a similar level to the national average of Cameroon, which ranks 144th on global HDI rankings with a score of 0.0506(HDI). As a result of social exclusion, the Q’eqchi ethnic group's HDI is relatively lower than the national average of 0.560. Furthermore, the 38 percent poverty rate experienced by the rural indigenous population is almost twice the national average of 21.9 percent and at least 20 percent greater than their urban contemporaries, highlighting a rural-urban divide in terms of development. In sum, the deprivation of the rural poor from opportunities of personal growth and development is a reflection of their disadvantaged economic circumstances. While the urban sector has been reaping relatively higher economic growth, the rural poor have been marginalized, bypassed and socially excluded from full economic participation in the Guatemalan economy. Graph created to showcase above-mentioned case study. Foreign debt Lastly, coupled with a high foreign debt totaling $5,496 million according to 2006 figures, the Guatemalan economy became even more depressed with this large sum of foreign debt obligation. This has been supported by various studies that pointed out how a large foreign debt could potentially deplete a country's capital stock, thereby reducing much-needed investment opportunities vital for economic growth. However, the positive impact of economic growth on poverty reduction should be taken with a word of caution. While there is a positive GDP growth of 4.5 percent in that same fiscal year in Guatemala, it has done little to reduce poverty. With economic growth bearing no absolute causality on poverty reduction, there is a need for the social determinants of poverty to be looked into. According to Vlahov, et al., "The social determinants approach to health emphasizes improving living conditions in such arenas as housing, employment, education, equality, quality of living environment, social support and health services." References Politics of Guatemala Society of Guatemala