This was the sixth Census conducted in Guyana since 1945. Guyana’s history of decennial Census taking goes back to 1831 under the then Colonial Administrations, with breaks during the two (2) great wars. From a more current historical perspective in the post World-War II era, Guyana with the rest of the English speaking Caribbean, conducted its previous Censuses in the years 1946, 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1991. Accordingly Guyana’s current Census should ideally have been executed in year 2001, but it would have been impractical to hold it in an election year, thus the deferment to year 2002.

Census 2002 was part of the global round of Censuses, and more importantly it was an integral part of the regionally coordinated round of Censuses under the aegis of the CARICOM Secretariat. The post World-War II Censuses have all been conducted on a regional basis, and with the advent of CARICOM, a Regional Census Coordinating Committee had been established since the 1970 Census to help plan and coordinate all Census activities of member countries.

By Ministerial Order made under Cap:19: 09 of the Statistics Act of the Laws of Guyana, Census day was set at 15th September 2002. Field enumeration of the population and housing commenced thereafter, except for Region 9 which historically has been done earlier in March/April, to avoid the onset of the rainy season, which makes communication in that area for Census taking virtually impossible.

This report is a detailed expansive “Regional Analysis” co-ordinated by the CARICOM Secretariat and covers twelve chapters. Chapter 11 - Gender and Development Issues - will be available soon.    Downloads available here:

1.   Cover Page and Table of Contents
• Cover page 1
• Cover page 2
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
2. Introduction and Executive Summary
3. Chapter 1 - National Population Trends: Size, Growth and Distribution
4. Chapter 2 - Population Composition
5. Chapter 3 - Population Redistribution and Internal Migration
6. Chapter 4 - Mortality and Fertility Patterns
7. Chapter 5 - Education and Training
8. Chapter 6 - Economic Activity
9. Chapter 7 - Housing and Living Arrangements
10. Chapter 8 - Disability and Health
11. Chapter 9 - Marriage, Divorce and Cohabitation
12. Chapter 10 - Children and Youth
13. Chapter 12 - The Elderly
14. Appendices
1. - Concepts and Definitions
2. - Data Tables
15. References

Census 2002 questionnaires for both Households and Individuals are available.
   Download available here: Household (PDF Version 2.1 MB)
Individual PDF Version 3.3 MB)