Indigenous peoples still suffer the consequences of historical injustice, such as colonization and land dispossession, oppression and discrimination, found a recent UN report from its Deprtament of Economic and Social Affairs.
Although the UN classifies about 370 million people as indigenous people, or 5 percent of the world population, they represent one third of the 900 million poor people living in rural areas.
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Moreover, more than half of indigenous people over 35 years old suffer from type 2 diabetes - a figure in constant increase. In some indigenous communities, diabetes reached pandemic proportions to the point where it became a threat to the community’s survival itself.
Indigenous people’s health is more at risk, meaning for instance they are more often subject to disabilities, they have a reduced quality of life, and they have a lower life expectancy. In Nepal or Australia, indigenous peoples can expect to live 20 years less than others in the country, in Guatemala, 13 years, in Mexico, 6 years.