Cooperative Republic of Guyana

President: Bharrat Jagdeo (1999)

Prime Minister: Samuel Hinds (1999)

Land area: 76,004 sq mi (196,850 sq km); total area: 83,000 sq mi (214,970 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 767,245 (growth rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 18.3/1000; infant mortality rate: 32.2/1000; life expectancy: 65.9; density per sq mi: 10

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Georgetown, 227,700

Monetary unit: Guyanese dollar

Languages: English (official), Amerindian dialects, Creole, Hindi, Urdu

Ethnicity/race: East Indian 50%; black 36%; Amerindian 7%; white, Chinese, and mixed 7%

Religions: Christian 50%, Hindu 35%, Islam 10%, other 5%

Literacy rate: 99% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $2.895 billion; per capita $3,800. Real growth rate: –2.5%. Inflation: 5.5%. Unemployment: 9.1% (2000) (understated). Arable land: 2%. Labor force: 418,000 (2001 est.); agriculture n.a., industry n.a., services n.a. Agriculture: sugarcane, rice, wheat, vegetable oils; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish, shrimp. Industries: bauxite, sugar, rice milling, timber, textiles, gold mining. Natural resources: bauxite, gold, diamonds, hardwood timber, shrimp, fish. Exports: $587.2 million f.o.b. (2005 est.): sugar, gold, bauxite/alumina, rice, shrimp, molasses, rum, timber. Imports: $681.6 million f.o.b. (2005 est.): manufactures, machinery, petroleum, food. Major trading partners: Canada, U.S., UK, Portugal, Belgium, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba (2004).

Member of Commonwealth of Nations

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 80,400 (2002); mobile cellular: 87,300 (2002). Radio broadcast stations: AM 3, FM 3, shortwave 1 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 3 (one public station; two private stations which relay U.S. satellite services) (1997). Internet hosts: 613 (2003). Internet users: 125,000 (2002).

Transportation: Railways: total: 187 km (all dedicated to ore transport) (2001 est.). Highways: total: 7,970 km; paved: 590 km; unpaved: 7,380 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 1,077 km; note: Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo rivers are navigable by oceangoing vessels for 150 km, 100 km, and 80 km respectively (2004) . Ports and harbors: Georgetown. Airports: 49 (2004 est.).

International disputes: all of the area west of the Essequibo (river) is claimed by Venezuela preventing any discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyana has expressed its intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before UNCLOS that Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into their waters; Suriname claims a triangle of land between the New and Kutari/Koetari rivers in a historic dispute over the headwaters of the Courantyne; Guyana seeks UNCLOS arbitration to resolve the long-standing dispute with Suriname over the axis of the territorial sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters.

 

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