Country · Americas
Guyana
Co-operative Republic of Guyana
Guyana is a country in South America. About 779 000 people live there, in an area of 214 969 square kilometres. Its capital city is Georgetown.
Picture credit: Marco Farouk Basir (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Dan Lundberg (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Dan Lundberg (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Dan Lundberg (CC BY-SA 2.0) · David Stanley (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Guyana?
Guyana lies in South America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 557 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 459 km long.
It shares a border with 3 countries: Brazil, Suriname and Venezuela.
How big is Guyana?
Guyana covers 214 969 square kilometres.
That is about 5.2 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 83rd largest.
Spread everybody out evenly and you get about 3.6 people on every square kilometre.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Guyana?
About 779 000 people live in Guyana.
That is the 159th biggest population in the world.
People here speak English.
They pay with the Guyanese dollar ($).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 64 years.
The land of Guyana
The land of Guyana sits on average 207 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 459 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 23 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Guyana different?
A dish the country is known for: Pepperpot.
Websites from here often end in .gy.
Guyana and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in Guyana.
It takes up about 0.16 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas the country ranks 13th of 35 by size, and 25th by population.
Guyana and its neighbours
Brazil, its largest neighbour, is about 39.6 times bigger.
Brazil has more people: 209.5 million against 779 000.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 5 live wild in Guyana: Goliath birdeater, Red-bellied piranha, Electric eel, Green anaconda and Giant anteater. The highest mountain in the country is Mount Roraima, at 2 772 metres. The longest river in the country is the Essequibo. The country has no large natural lake; its largest body of water, Lake Itiribisi, is a reservoir.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
How big is Guyana compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 44 times as big as Guyana: 9 372 610 km² against 214 969 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 1.1 times as big as Guyana: 242 900 km² against 214 969 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Guyana?
The capital of Guyana is Georgetown. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Guyana?
About 779 000 people live in Guyana, which makes it the 159th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Guyana?
How big is Guyana?
Guyana covers 214 969 square kilometres, making it the 83rd largest country in the world. That is about 5.2 times the size of Switzerland.
What is the highest mountain in Guyana?
The highest mountain in Guyana is Mount Roraima, 2 772 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in Guyana?
The longest river in Guyana is the Essequibo, about 1 014 kilometres long.
What is the largest lake in Guyana?
The largest body of water in Guyana is Lake Itiribisi, a reservoir of about 17 km²; there is no large natural lake in the country.
Which continent is Guyana in?
Guyana is in Americas, in the part called South America.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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