Compassion’s work in Nicaragua began in 2002 with an initial registration of 150 children. Today, more than 69,000 children participate in our Sponsorship Program at more than 235 child development centers throughout the country. Additionally, approximately 700 babies and their caregivers receive life-saving care and treatment through Compassion’s Survival programming.
Nicaragua is literally translated as ‘surrounded by water.’ The country’s diverse topography creates a range of microclimates throughout the country, with warm and rainy year-round on the Atlantic coast, hot and dry summers on the Pacific side and cool mornings all year long in the mountains. While 90 percent of the children are enrolled in primary school, many do not attend regularly due to child labor, which affects about 10 percent of all children.
Despite efforts made in recent years to grow its economy and reduce the level of poverty, Nicaragua still has highly unequal distribution of wealth and development levels, which limited the possibility of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. More than 40 percent of the total population live in conditions of poverty, with 15 percent of Nicaraguans living in extreme poverty. Even though nearly all urban residents have access to improved drinking water, the rate drops to less than 70 percent in rural areas.
Children in coastal regions frequently suffer from coughs, flu, parasites and intestinal illnesses. Over 20 percent of Nicaraguan children experience growth stunting, an often irreversible condition resulting from chronic malnutrition during early childhood.
Your support will change daily living conditions for these impoverished people and will bless the children, their families and this community overall.
Quick Facts
- Nicaragua has the largest land area of all the countries in Central America.
- Nicaragua is the second-poorest nation in the region, after Haiti.
- 40 percent of Nicaraguan girls are married by the age of 18.
