1985 Edition
CIA World Factbook 1985 (Internet Archive)
Geography
Agriculture
main crops — sugarcane, rice, other food crops; food shortages — wheat flour, cooking oil, processed meat, dairy products
Area
214,970 km2; the size of Idaho; 66% forest; 22% water, urban, and waste; 8% savanna; 3% pasture; 1% cropland
Branches
Executive President, who appoints and heads a cabinet; unicameral legislature (53-member National Assembly) elected by proportional representation every five years
Budget
est. revenue, $200 million; expenditure $381 million (1983)
Capital
Georgetown
Coastline
459 km People
Elections
last held in December 1980 Political parties and leaders: People's National Congress (PNC), Forbes Burnham; People's Progressive Party (PPP), Cheddi Jagan; Working People's Alliance (WPA), Rupert Roopnarine, Clive Thomas, Walter Omawale, Eusi Kwayana, Moses Bhagwan, Kenneth Persand; United Force (UF), Feilden Singh; Vanguard for Liberation and Democracy (VLD; also known as Liberator Party), Ganraj Kumar, Dr. J. K. Makepeace Richmond; Democratic Labor Movement, Dr. Paul Tennassee
Electric power
200,000 kW capacity (1984); 266 million kWh produced (1984), 335 kWh per capita
Ethnic divisions
51% East Indian, 43% black and mixed, 4% Amerindian, 2% European and Chinese
Exports
$241 million (c.i.f., 1982); bauxite, sugar, rice, shrimp, molasses, timber, rum
GNP
$430 million (1982), $539 per capita; real growth - 10% (1982)
Government leader
Linden Forbes Sampson BURNHAM, Executive President (since 1964; elected in 1980 under new constitution)
Imports
$283 million (c.i.f., 1982); manufactures, machinery, food, petroleum
Labor force
200,000 (1982); 44.5% industry and commerce, 33.8% agriculture, 21.7% services; 64% public sector employment; approximately 21% unemployed
Land boundaries
2,575 km Water
Language
English, Amerindian dialects
Limits of territorial waters (claimed)
12 nm (fishing 200 nm; economic zone 200 nm)
Literacy
85%
Major industries
bauxite mining, sugar and rice milling, timber fishing (shrimp), textiles, gold mining
Major trade partners
exports — 28% UK, 21% US, 14% CARICOM, 6% Canada; imports—35% CARICOM, 23% UK, 22% US, 4% Canada (1980)
Member of
CARICOM, CDB, FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB, IBA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDE — Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTERPOL, IRC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAS (observer), PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO Economy
Monetary conversion rate
G$4.25=US$1 (December 1984)
National holiday
Republic Day, 23 February
Nationality
noun — Guyanese (sing., pi.); adjective— Guyanese
Official name
Cooperative Republic of
Organized labor
34% of labor force Government
Other political or pressure groups
Trades Union Congress (TUC); Working People's Vanguard Party (WP VP); Guyana Council of Indian Organizations (GCIO); Civil Liberties Action Committee (CLAC); the latter two organizations are small and active but not well organized
Political subdivisions
10 government districts Legal system": based on English common law with certain admixtures of Roman-Dutch law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Population
798,000 (July 1985), average annual growth rate 0.4%
Religion
57% Christian, 33% Hindu, 9% Muslim, 1% other
Suffrage
universal adult over age 18
Type
republic within Commonwealth
Voting strength
(1980 election, unofficial returns) 77% PNC (41 seats), 19% PPP (10 seats), 4% UF (2 seats) Communisms.- est. 100 hardcore within PPP; top echelons of PPP and PYO (Progressive Youth Organization, militant wing of the PPP) include many Communists, but rank and file is conservative and non-Communist; small but unknown number of orthodox Marxist-Leninists within PNC, some of whom are PPP turncoats