Govt’s working population estimate is almost 1 million

Last Updated on Thursday, 18 January 2024, 19:43 by Denis Chabrol

The Guyana government has been using 900,000 persons as a working estimate of the country’s population, against the backdrop of the national census picking up a lesser count, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said Thursday.

“This is an internal estimate and this is my internal estimate based on the number that we see on people coming from services,” he said when asked to explain how he earlier in Thursday’s news conference had arrived at the figure of 900,000 persons.

He said government arrived at the figure based on the significant number of households going to collect cash grants.

The Bureau of Statistics is yet to complete the 2022 Census Report. Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh last month said that document was expected to be provided to government during the second quarter of 2024 after which the Stats Bureau would need an additional four to six months for preparation and publication of all reports.

The last census, which was conducted in 2012, states that Guyana’s population is 746,955 persons.