KEY FACTS

Joined Commonwealth: 1966
Population: 795,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 2.9% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 118
Official language: English
Time: GMT minus 4hr
Currency: Guyana dollar (G$)

Geography

Area: 214,970 sq km
Coastline: 459 km
Capital: Georgetown

The Co-operative Republic of Guyana lies in the north-east of South America, north of the equator. It is bordered by Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela and, to the north and east, extends to the North Atlantic Ocean. The country comprises ten regions.

Main towns:

Georgetown (capital, pop. 141,300 in 2010), Linden (30,700), New Amsterdam (15,700), Anna Regina (13,800), Corriverton (10,600), Bartica (8,500), Rosignol, Skeldon and Vreed en Hoop. Georgetown is famous for its Dutch-inspired wooden architecture, street layout and drainage canals.

Society

KEY FACTS 2012

Population per sq km: 3.7
Life expectancy: 66 years
Net primary enrolment: 72%

Population:

795,000 (2012); distribution is very uneven, with high concentration of people along the coastal strip and many inland areas virtually uninhabited; 28 per cent of people live in urban areas; growth 0.4 per cent p.a. 1990–2012, depressed over this period by migration; birth rate 21 per 1,000 people (38 in 1970); life expectancy 66 years (60 in 1970). The ethnic origins of the people are: 44 per cent Indian (resident mostly in agricultural areas); 30 per cent African (mostly in towns); 17 per cent of mixed descent; nine per cent Amerindian (mainly in the west and south, or on reserves; data from 2002 census).

Language:

English is the official language, Guyana being the only English-speaking country in South America. An English-based Creole is widely used; Hindi, Urdu and Amerindian languages are also spoken.

Education:

Public spending on education was three per cent of GDP in 2012. There are nine years of compulsory education starting at the age of six. Primary school comprises six years and secondary five, with cycles of three and two years. Some 83 per cent of pupils complete primary school (2008). The school year starts in September. Tertiary institutions include the University of Guyana (established in 1963), which has law and medical schools, and campuses at Turkeyen, Georgetown, and Tain Corentyne, Berbice (in the east of the country); Cyril Potter College of Education, based at the Turkeyen campus of the university, with branches at Linden, New Amsterdam and Rose Hall; Guyana College of Agriculture; and Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre at Georgetown (which trains youth workers from Commonwealth countries in the region). The University of Guyana also provides adult education programmes. The female–male ratio for gross enrolment in tertiary education is 2.40:1 (2011).