It is the westernmost department of Guatemala at a distance of 251 kilometers from the Guatemalan capital; It has a territorial area of 3,791 km². Administratively it is divided into 30 municipalities; in 2016 there was a population of 1044667; with a density of 233 inhabitants / km²; 31.28% of the total population is indigenous Maya Mam and its linguistic expression is Mam and a small percentage speak the Sipakapense language, located in the highlands, an area where the poverty rate is deepest. Approximately 27% of this population speak the Mam and Spanish languages. In the lowland or coastal municipalities, the non-indigenous population predominates. Its topography is characterized by a mountain range system in the highlands; two renowned volcanoes: the Tajumulco and the Tacaná; with a contrasting valleys and lowlands of the coastal plain; it is very susceptible to floods, landslides, droughts and frost; cataloging in high vulnerability to 14 municipalities and 12 with very high vulnerability in which Comitancillo appears. One of the indicators that establishes the high vulnerability of the population to risks of natural disasters, economic crisis and quality of life before their constitutional rights, is the degree of poverty of the population listed as the highest in the entire republic, with 86.66 % and 61.1% of extreme poverty.
The majority of the population is smallholder mainly in the highlands; illiteracy is 46.15%, in some municipalities over 50% passes; The maternal mortality rate is 66.59 and infant mortality is 17.40 per thousand live births, the causes of these problems are predictable. Life expectancy for men and women is 64 years, lower than the average in the country. The basic rural diet is the basic grains of corn and beans, which are scarce due to the minimum requirements of a protein, cereal and dairy diet.
San Marcos was the department of Guatemala that resulted in the greatest material and human losses during the Guatemala earthquake on Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at 10:35:47 local time (16:35:47 UTC), telluric movement with a magnitude of 7.5 degrees on the Richter scale. The tragedy in the department left 30 people dead, more than ten thousand people affected and nearly two thousand houses demolished, as well as dozens of buildings with severe damage.
