Demographics of Guyana

Guyana's population is made up of six main ethnic groups -- East Indian, African, Amerindian, European, Mixed Race, and Chinese. Ninety percent of the inhabitants live on the narrow coastal plain, where population density is more than 115 persons per square kilometer (380/mile²). The population density for Guyana as a whole is low -- less than four persons per square kilometer.

Although the government has provided free education from nursery school to the university level since 1975, it has not allocated sufficient funds to maintain the standards of what had been considered the best educational system in the region. Many school buildings are in poor condition, there is a shortage of text and exercise books, the number of teachers has declined, and fees are being charged at the university level for some courses of study for the first time.

[edit] Population Statistics

Population: 697,286
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 35.5% (male 135,629; female 131,518; total 267,147)
15-64 years: 66% (male 226,058; female 226,551; total 452,609)
65 years and over: 4.2% (male 14,347; female 17,120; total 31,467) (2002 census)^[1]

[edit] Health Data

Population growth rate: 0.234% (2007 est.)

Birth rate: 18.09 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Death rate: 8.28 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Net migration rate: -7.47 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 31.35 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 64.04 years
male: 61.08 years
female: 67.15 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.11 children born/woman (2000 est.)

[edit] Ethnicity and Religion

See also: Religion in Guyana

Nationality:
noun: Guyanese (singular and plural)
adjective: Guyanese

Ethnic groups: East Indian 43.5%, Black African 30.2%, mixed heritage 16.7%, Amerindian 9.2%, other 0.46%^[2]

Religions: Hindu 28.4%, Pentecostal 16.9%, Roman Catholic 8.1%, Muslim 7.2%, Anglican 6.9%,
Seventh Day Adventist 5%, Other Christian denominations 20.5%, no religion 4.3%, Rastafarian 0.5%, Bahá'í 0.1%, other faiths 2.2%^[3]

[edit] Language and Literacy

Languages: English (official), Guyanese Creole, Amerindian (Cariban) languages

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school
total population: 98.1%
male: 98.6%
female: 97.5% (1995 est.)

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• CIA World Factbook -- Guyana

v • d • e Demographics of South America Sovereign states Argentina · Bolivia · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Ecuador · Guyana · Panama1 · Paraguay · Peru · Suriname · Trinidad and Tobago1 · Uruguay · Venezuela Dependencies Aruba1 / Netherlands Antilles1 (Netherlands) · Falkland Islands / South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK) · French Guiana (France) 1 Territories also in or commonly reckoned elsewhere in the Americas (North America and/or Central America).

This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.