Natural hazards:
flash floods are a constant threat during rainy seasons
Environment - current issues:
water pollution from sewage and agricultural and industrial
chemicals; deforestation
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber
83, Tropical Timber 94
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
the third-smallest country in South America after Suriname and
Uruguay; substantial portions of its western and eastern territories
are claimed by Venezuela and Suriname respectively
People Guyana
Population:
765,283
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
2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 26.4% (male 103,054/female 99,279)
15-64 years: 68.5% (male 263,953/female 260,000)
65 years and over: 5.1% (male 16,801/female 22,196) (2005 est.)
Median age:
total: 26.91 years
male: 26.44 years
female: 27.4 years (2005 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.26% (2005 est.)
Birth rate:
18.45 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)