The homes of indigenous families are far less likely to have sanitary services or electricity. Water probably comes from a well. Under such conditions, child mortality rates, while declining, are still high. Partly for cultural reasons, partly because the parents themselves are uneducated, partly because of a demand for child labor, the children in these families more often repeat primary grades and leave school at an early age. Those who do have schooling have an average of less than two years.
Girls have the greatest disadvantage.
Indigenous people are not idle. They are more likely to have a job than the general population. Even there, they earn but a third of the wages made by nonindigenous agricultural laborers. But if the head of a household is unemployed, that probability nearly triples. Employment is more important than heritage.