Households in Guyana are getting smaller, with fewer people living under one roof than a decade ago, according to preliminary results from the country’s 2022 national census.
The average household size fell to 3.23 persons in 2022, down from 3.65 persons in 2012, the Bureau of Statistics said in its preliminary Population and Housing Census report released on Monday.
The decline was recorded across all administrative regions, indicating a nationwide shift rather than a trend confined to the coast. The Bureau concluded that there was “a shift in the structure of the Guyanese family setting to more nuclear families” and “an increase in the proportion of people living alone.”
Regional data show the smallest average household sizes were recorded along the coast. Region 4, which includes the capital Georgetown, reported an average household size of 3.08, while Region 6 recorded 3.0 and Region 5 3.1 in 2022. By contrast, Region 1 recorded the largest households, with an average size of 4.58, the census showed.
The pattern marks a shift from 2012, when Region 3 had the smallest average household size at 3.48. In 2022, Region 3’s average household size stood at 3.2, no longer the lowest nationally.
The average household size fell because the number of households grew much faster than the population. Guyana recorded 271,946 households in 2022, up from 204,625 in 2012, an increase of 67,321 households, or 32.89%, over the decade, according to the census. Guyana’s population rose to 878,674 in 2022, up from 746,955 in 2012.
The Bureau of Statistics said the 2022 census was conducted using tablet-based digital data collection for the first time and that results were adjusted to account for households that could not be contacted during enumeration. More detailed data on household composition will be released in a final report.
