Guyana's oil-driven economy has seen fast GDP per capita growth

Guyana, a small country in South America, has seen the fastest growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the world over the past decade.

This is illustrated in the chart, which shows GDP per capita for Guyana and the World, based on estimates from the World Bank. The data is adjusted for inflation, so Guyana’s sharp growth is not due to price changes over time.

A large and sudden expansion in oil production has driven most of this growth. In 2020, Guyana began extracting oil. From 2020 to 2023, the country’s oil production grew 425%, making it a key contributor to global crude oil supply growth. Over this period, Guyana’s GDP per capita rose from below the global average to well above it.

(This Daily Data Insight was written by Esteban Ortiz-Ospina.)