About Guyana

FAST FACTS Guyana's National Flag

Population:

770,000

Area:

83,850 sq mi

Capital:

Georgetown
(pop 350,000)

People:

51% East Indian
43% Afro-Guyanese
4% Amerindian
2% European & Chinese

Languages:

English, indigenous languages, Creole, Hindi, Urdu

Religions:

57% Christian
33% Hindu
9% Muslim

Life Expectancy:

47 years (men)
51 years (women)

Curency:

1 (USD) = 181.000 (GYD)

1 (GYD) = 0.005525 (USD)

Average Annual Income:

$760 USD

Exports:

Bauxite and alumina, sugar, gold, rice, shrimp, molasses, rum, timber

Government:

Democracy

Prime Minister:

Samuel Hinds

President:

Bharrat Jagdeo

Internet Domain:

.gy

International Dialing Code:

+592

The only English-speaking country in South America, Guyana is a product of its colonial past. While more than half of its population is descended from African slaves imported by the Dutch to work on sugar plantations, more than a third are the descendants of indentured Indian agricultural workers brought in after slavery was abolished. Persistent tension between these two groups has had a destabilizing impact on Guyanese politics and is reflected in hostility between the two main parties, which are ethnically based.

Until the 1990s, more than 80 percent of Guyana's industries were state-owned. These industries were undermined by political appointments. The consequent mismanagement, combined with falling commodity prices and high fuel costs, created serious economic problems and led to a fall in an already low living standard.

Although since the late 1990s the government has divulged itself of many industries, it now faces different sets of problems in the form of environmental threats to the coastal strip and commercial threats to the rainforest, rising crime, and growing poverty.

Presently, Guyana is making a difficult transition from a three decades old authoritarian political system with a state directed economic model, to a more open democracy with a free market economy. There has undoubtedly been an economic turn-around in recent years, including trade liberalization and an open investment climate contributing to a growth rate above regional and world averages.

Most of the Peace Corps' Volunteers are located in small coastal towns or villages, ranging in population from 200 to 2,000 inhabitants.

More about Guyana from Encarta Encyclopedia.