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Guyana's population is made up of five main ethnic groups -- East Indian, African, Amerindian, Chinese, and Portuguese. 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.

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: 29% (male 102,463; female 98,492)
15-64 years: 66% (male 232,857; female 229,598)
65 years and over: 5% (male 15,170; female 18,706) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.1% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 17.94 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 8.42 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: -10.48 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 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: 39.07 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 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.)

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

Ethnic groups: East Indian 50%, Black African 33%, Amerindian 7%, white, Chinese, and mixed 10%

Religions: Christian 48%, Hindu 34%, Muslim 10%, Bahá'í and Other 8%

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.)

• CIA World Factbook -- Guyana

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