What Is Life Like in Nicaragua?
Life in Nicaragua is extremely hard. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. Poverty in Nicaragua has been caused by two main factors: man-made disasters (war and conflict) and natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, mudslides, tidal waves). An estimated 75% of the population is unable to adequately feed or clothe themselves and the situation in the rural areas is worse than in the towns. Many small and subsistence farmers can no longer afford to buy seeds or tools to work the land and their crops are their only access to income and there only source of food. The wide-spread and desperate poverty in Nicaragua has led to malnutrition, especially in children, premature death, poor health and disease, less access to educational opportunities, poor living standards, lack of basic services such as clean water and health provision, under/unemployment on a great scale.
