Demographics of French Guiana

Historical population estimates and average annual growth rate
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1790	14,520	—
1839	20,940	+0.75%
1857	25,561	+1.11%
1891	33,500	+0.80%
Source: INSEE estimates

Census population and average annual growth rate
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1936	37,005	—
1946	25,499	−3.66%
1954	27,863	+1.11%
1961	33,505	+2.67%
1967	44,392	+4.80%
1974	55,125	+3.14%
1982	73,022	+3.58%
1990	114,678	+5.80%
1999	156,790	+3.54%
2009	224,469	+3.65%
Source:

Population

Demographics of French Guiana.

According to INSEE the population of French Guiana was 239,450 of January 1, 2012. The population is very young: 44% are below the age of 20, while only 1.7% are 75 years or older. The age distribution is a reflection of the high fertility rates of French Guiana.

Nationality

On January 1, 2010, 64.5% of the population had French nationality, while 35.5% had a foreign nationality. Of these, Surinamese (13.8% of the total population), Haitians (8.8%) and Brazilians (8.7) were the largest groups. Smaller groups included people with nationality of Guyana (1.7%), Colombia (1.0%), China (0.5%), the Dominican Republic (0.4%) and Peru (0.2%).

Vital statistics

The total fertility rate in French Guiana has remained high and is today considerably higher than in metropolitan France, and also higher than the average of the French overseas departments. It is largely responsible for the high population growth of French Guiana.

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate
1936	24	355	554	- 199	14.8	23.1	-8.3
1937	24	408	487	- 79	17.0	20.3	-3.3
1938	24	381	649	- 268	15.9	27.0	-11.2
1939	24	333	499	- 166	13.9	20.8	-6.9
1940	24	436	505	- 69	18.2	21.0	-2.9
1941	24	437	626	- 189	18.2	26.1	-7.9
1942	24	453	733	- 280	18.9	30.5	-11.7
1943	24	422	702	- 280	17.6	29.3	-11.7
1944	24	474	627	- 153	19.8	26.1	-6.4
1945	24	620	539	81	25.8	22.5	3.4
1946	24	515	596	- 81	21.5	24.8	-3.4
1947	24	539	623	- 84	22.5	26.0	-3.5
1948	25	529	547	- 18	21.2	21.9	-0.7
1949	25	607	471	136	24.3	18.8	5.4
1950	25	590	384	206	23.6	15.4	8.2
1951	26	558	383	175	21.5	14.7	6.7
1952	27	781	462	319	30.0	17.8	12.3
1953	27	720	426	294	26.7	15.8	10.9
1954	28	900	378	522	32.1	13.5	18.6
1955	29	941	377	564	32.6	13.0	19.5
1956	29	949	411	538	32.1	13.9	18.2
1957	30	993	426	567	33.0	14.2	18.8
1958	31	940	404	536	30.9	13.3	17.6
1959	31	1 043	460	583	34.1	15.0	19.1
1960	32	1 026	451	575	31.4	13.8	17.6
1961	34	1 066	487	579	31.8	14.5	17.3
1962	35	1 041	410	631	30.1	11.8	18.2
1963	36	1 118	446	672	31.1	12.4	18.7
1964	38	1 213	399	814	32.0	10.5	21.5
1965	39	1 161	403	758	29.0	10.1	19.0
1966	41	1 244	401	843	29.5	9.5	20.0
1967	43	1 281	376	905	29.2	8.6	20.6
1968	45	1 390	408	982	30.4	8.9	21.5
1969	47	1 424	431	993	30.0	9.1	20.9
1970	49	1 584	385	1 199	32.2	7.8	24.4
1971	50	1 600	400	1 200	31.4	7.8	23.5
1972	52	1 670	399	1 271	31.7	7.6	24.1
1973	54	1 473	418	1 055	27.1	7.7	19.4
1974	55	1 529	435	1 094	27.4	7.8	19.6
1975	57	1 476	408	1 068	25.6	7.1	18.5
1976	59	1 439	415	1 024	24.2	7.0	17.2
1977	61	1 476	463	1 013	24.0	7.5	16.4
1978	63	1 568	470	1 098	24.5	7.4	17.2
1979	65	1 704	454	1 250	25.7	6.9	18.9
1980	68	1 933	468	1 465	28.1	6.8	21.3
1981	71	2 092	428	1 664	29.3	6.0	23.3
1982	74	2 379	492	1 887	31.6	6.5	25.1
1983	78	2 314	489	1 825	28.9	6.1	22.8
1984	83	2 319	491	1 828	27.3	5.8	21.5
1985	87	2 482	501	1 981	27.6	5.6	22.0
1986	93	2 392	491	1 901	25.2	5.2	20.0
1987	99	2 700	550	2 150	27.2	5.6	21.7
1988	105	3 000	550	2 450	28.5	5.2	23.2
1989	111	3 300	550	2 750	29.6	4.9	24.7
1990	117	3 606	594	3 012	30.8	5.1	25.7
1991	122	3 922	583	3 339	32.2	4.8	27.4
1992	126	4 045	568	3 477	32.0	4.5	27.5
1993	131	4 113	578	3 535	31.5	4.4	27.1
1994	135	4 235	625	3 610	31.5	4.6	26.8
1995	139	4 264	548	3 716	30.7	3.9	26.7
1996	143	4 367	544	3 823	30.4	3.8	26.6
1997	148	4 453	568	3 885	30.1	3.8	26.2
1998	153	4 696	614	4 082	30.6	4.0	26.6
1999	159	4 907	648	4 259	30.9	4.1	26.8	3.87
2000	165	5 149	634	4 515	31.2	3.8	27.4	3.93
2001	172	5 137	678	4 459	29.9	3.9	25.9	3.79
2002	179	5 276	665	4 611	29.4	3.7	25.7	3.73
2003	187	5 553	721	4 832	29.7	3.9	25.8	3.77
2004	195	5 312	719	4 593	27.3	3.7	23.6	3.47
2005	202	5 998	705	5 293	29.7	3.5	26.2	3.79
2006	208	6 276	711	5 565	30.1	3.4	26.7	3.80
2007	214	6 386	690	5 696	29.8	3.2	26.6	3.73
2008	220	6 247	762	5 485	28.4	3.5	24.9	3.57
2009	225	6 171	699	5 472	27.4	3.1	24.3	3.49
2010	231	6 083	773	5 310	26.3	3.3	23.0	3.40
2011	237	6 259	714	5 545	26.4	3.0	23.4	3.44
2012	243	6 609	789	5 820	27.2	3.2	23.9
2013	250	6 474	767	5 707	26.1	3.1	23.0	3.49

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (01.01.2010) (Provisional estimates) :

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	113 824	116 617	230 441	100
0-4	14 591	13 849	28 440	12,34
5-9	14 090	13 618	27 708	12,02
10-14	12 843	12 024	24 867	10,79
15-19	10 729	10 672	21 401	9,29
20-24	7 728	8 478	16 206	7,03
25-29	7 281	9 109	16 390	7,11
30-34	7 692	8 676	16 368	7,10
35-39	7 877	8 865	16 742	7,27
40-44	7 415	7 650	15 065	6,54
45-49	6 698	6 582	13 280	5,76
50-54	5 397	5 148	10 545	4,58
55-59	4 207	4 107	8 314	3,61
60-64	2 931	2 684	5 615	2,44
65-69	1 740	1 693	3 433	1,49
70-74	1 083	1 260	2 343	1,02
75-79	752	974	1 726	0,75
80-84	433	619	1 052	0,46
85-89	225	402	627	0,27
90-94	77	144	221	0,10
95+	35	63	98	0,04

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	41 524	39 491	81 015	35,16
15-64	67 955	71 971	139 926	60,72
65+	4 345	5 155	9 500	4,12

Infant mortality rate

The infant mortality in French Guiana is higher than in metropolitan France:

• 2007-2009: 12.0
• 2008-2010: 11.6
• 2009-2011: 10.1

Life expectancy

At birth, life expectancy is 76.2 years for male children, and 82.8 for female (figures for 2011).

Ethnic groups

Estimates of the percentages of French Guiana ethnic composition vary, a situation compounded by the large proportion of immigrants.

Creoles, or Mulattoes (people of mixed African and French ancestry), are the largest ethnic group, though estimates vary as to the exact percentage, depending upon whether the large Haitian community is included as well. Generally the Creole population is judged to be about 60 to 70% of the total population if Haitians (comprising roughly one-third of Creoles) are included, and 30 to 50% without.

Roughly 14% of the population is of European ancestry. The vast majority of these are of French heritage, though there are also people of Dutch, British, Spanish and Portuguese ancestry.

The main Asian communities are the Chinese (about 3-4%, primarily from Zhejiang province in mainland China and Hong Kong) and Hmong from Laos (1-2%). There are also smaller groups from various Caribbean islands, mainly Saint Lucia as well as Dominica. Other Asian groups include East Indians, Lebanese and Vietnamese.

The main groups living in the interior are the Maroons (formerly called "Bush Negroes") who are from African descent, and Amerindians. The Maroons, descendants of escaped African slaves, live primarily along the Maroni River. The main Maroon groups are the Saramaca, Aucan (both of whom also live in Suriname), and Boni (Aluku).

The main Amerindian groups (forming about 3%–4% of the population) are the Arawak, Carib, Emerillon (now called Teko), Galibi (now called the Kaliña), Palikur, Wayampi and Wayana. As of the late 1990s, there was evidence of an uncontacted group of Wayampi.

Languages

French and Guianese Creole French are the most widely spoken languages. There are also several native languages, including Arawak (Arawak and Palikur), Carib (Kalina and Wayana), Tupi-Guarani (Teko and Wayampi), Hakka Chinese and Javanese. The official language, like for all overseas departments and territories of France, is French.

Religion

The dominant religion of French Guiana is Roman Catholicism; the Maroons and Amerindian people maintain their own religions. The Hmong people are also mainly Catholic owing to the influence of missionaries who helped bring them to French Guiana.

See also

• French Guiana