Guyana

Guyana: explosive, multi-decade catch-up growth, 1980–2024

Long one of South America's poorest economies, dependent on sugar, rice, bauxite, and gold, Guyana was transformed by offshore oil discoveries from 2015, with production starting in late 2019 and driving some of the fastest GDP growth rates ever recorded anywhere. Between 1980 and 2024, Guyana's GDP per capita grew from $779 to $29,675 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 8.6% — explosive, multi-decade catch-up growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 6.2% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 13.8 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 20.7% to 7.6% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 36.2% to 14.5% of GDP, a comparatively unusual pattern for this period. On human development, life expectancy rose from 60.8 to 70.3 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 2.9% to 26.4%, while the urban population share grew from 29.5% to 26.5%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 2.29 to 4.56 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) widened from 39.5 to 45.1; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 33.3% to 13.0%.