Fewer people are having babies and getting married in Guyana, according to recently published data, even as the country’s population continues to grow, now hovering around the one million mark.
The crude birth rate, which measures the number of live births per 1,000 people, has dropped sharply in recent years, according to the appendix to the budget speech document. It was 19.4 in 2021, gradually lowering to 16.2 in 2024, but registering its sharpest drop to 10.5 in 2025. This represents a decline of nearly half from 2021 to 2025. The same document shows that Guyana’s crude marriage rate has also fallen steadily, reaching 3 marriages per 1,000 persons in 2025, its lowest level in years, falling 27.5% from 4.1 in 2024 to 3 in 2025, its lowest in the same five-year period. The document says the 2025 numbers are preliminary.
At the same time, Guyana’s population has continued to expand. The Bureau of Statistics estimated the country’s population at 956,044 at the end of 2024, while the 2025 national budget places the mid-year population estimate at 990,600, putting the country within reach of the one-million mark.
Population growth has accelerated in recent years despite the falling birth rate. Official figures show Guyana’s population growth rate rose from 1.5% in 2021 to 5.7% in 2024, before easing slightly to 5.6% in 2025. The figures indicate that population growth is continuing even as fewer children are being born each year.
Meanwhile, more foreigners are moving to Guyana. The share of foreign-born residents living in Guyana nearly tripled in a decade, rising to 3.07% of the population in 2022, up from 1.1% in 2012. Over the same period, Guyana’s total population increased significantly, growing from 746,955 in 2012 to 878,674 in 2022.
While the census recorded 12,654 migrants, administrative records show that 19,709 Venezuelans were registered in Guyana between 2018 and 2022, suggesting that the actual number of foreign nationals in the country may be higher than reflected in census results.
Together, the data suggest that migration has played a major role in Guyana’s recent population growth, even as birth and marriage rates have declined.
Although falling birth and marriage rates have not featured prominently in public discourse, several government programmes appear aimed at reducing the financial pressures associated with raising families. These include the Because We Care cash grant, which provides support to families for school-related expenses, the $100,000 grant for every newborn baby, as well as a large-scale housing programme that has distributed tens of thousands of house lots at subsidised prices and supported the construction of homes for families.
The government has said it surpassed its target of allocating 50,000 house lots between 2020 and 2025 and has outlined plans to build 40,000 homes over the next five years, expanding access to home ownership as part of its broader development agenda.
More detailed census data are expected to be released by the Bureau of Statistics, which could provide further insight into the forces shaping Guyana’s changing population.
