How is Panem a dystopian society?

Panem is a dystopian society because everyone in the capital lives a wonderful life but the rest of the country suffers. 

A dystopia is a type of science fiction in which people have tried to create a perfect world, and in doing so have created a nightmare.  These dystopias usually restrict people’s rights and use science and technology to terrorize and control their citizens. 

The country of Panem is carefully constructed into thirteen districts in order to keep the population in line.  There are actually only supposedly twelve, because the thirteenth is said to not exist.  Each district produces critical foodstuffs or goods for the capital, and the districts recede into poverty the farther they get from the Capitol. 

Participation in these programs is not optional.  Katniss’s district, District 12, produces coal.  There are other elements of dystopian disharmony in Panem that are exemplified in District 12.  Residents are not allowed to have weapons, even a bow and arrow to hunt their own food.  In fact, hunting is illegal.  There is an electrified fence Katniss has to pass in order to get to her hunting grounds, but Katniss is usually able to do so easily because electricity is so spotty in her impoverished district. 

Speech is severely restricted, especially in the districts far from the Capitol.  Katniss explains this to us in the beginning.  People who badmouth the government get into trouble. 

When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually I understood this would only lead us to more trouble. (Ch. 1) 

In another feature typical of dystopias, Panem has a spectacle known as The Hunger Games.  In order to punish the districts for rebelling, the Capitol forces each of them to have a drawing of all children over the age of twelve.  The two who are chosen are sent to the capital for a reality show where they have to fight to the death with the children from the other eleven districts in a live reality TV show.