Census on Venezuelans in Guyana

Jan 16, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – The Guyana National Population and Housing Census 2022 (census report) is already giving off a steady odor of a hodgepodge cobbled together to get it out the door. Over three years since the date of completion of the gathering of data, and after endless calls for its publication, the census report is released. It is better that it had stayed a secret, so unsteady it is on its feet, questionable about its worth to Guyanese. The area of cross-border migration, with a focus on Venezuelans is one aspect that is worth scrutiny.

According to the census report, the number of migrants from Venezuela, Brazil, and Suriname increased to 15,467 from 2012 to 2022, with Venezuelans making up the bulk of that increase. The first thing to be said is that one doesn’t have to be a statistician or a border security agent to conclude that something is terribly off with that 15,467 number, and this is after removing migrants from Brazil and Suriname out of the census report.

At different times, different government agencies have publicly stated that there is great uncertainty about the actual number of Venezuelans present in Guyana. The estimates have ranged far, with as many as 50,000 and even as much as 100,000 Venezuelans thought to have taken up residence in Guyana. In the recent past, senior officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Police Force have shared their uncertainty about what the real number is, or what is closer to capturing how many are here. From the government also, there have been concerns articulated about the pressures that are exerted on social services, and the costs of accommodating an unchecked influx from neighbours.

There are official records that highlight the disconnect between the census report numbers and how far apart they are from what is documented. For example, local administrative records indicate that 19,709 Venezuelans were registered in Guyana between 2018 and 2022. On the other hand, 12,654 Venezuelans are reported for the same period in 2022 census report. It is not a negligible number, but the sizable differential of 7,055 new registrants, or 55% more than the census reports.

Further, the United Nations estimated that Venezuelans in Guyana stood at 40,456 as of mid-2024. We are sympathetic to the fact that the UN number is almost two years after the Bureau of Statistics closed out its data gathering. And that migrants who entered this country illegally would not be enthusiastic in sharing their information and situation with any of Guyana’s official agencies. We doubt that so many Venezuelans may have died, that the gap between the census numbers and official ones could be narrower. Another point that is worthy to note is that the economic and social conditions are so distressing in Venezuela that it is not reasonable to think that they have returned to their homeland by the droves. It must be remembered that Guyana and its oil developments are now a proven magnet that attracts migrants, legal and illegal, from neighbouring countries, and that is for a start only.

The census report took too long to be released to the public, and it is still too early to get the fullest appreciation of what it represents. If it took the Bureau of Statistics over three years to move towards publishing its report, and only a preliminary one at that, then it will take some time to get the full picture of its strengths and weaknesses. What could be said right away, though, is that the 2022 census report does not inspire much confidence as to its reliability, and seemingly has some serious gaps. We ask ourselves, if in the haste to get something out before the public, in an effort to quell the ongoing clamors, whether the Bureau of Statistics was not really ready to deliver a credible report. What has been seen and reviewed so far, only seem to enhance that position.

If Guyana doesn’t have some fair idea of Venezuelan migrants here, and the implications of their presence, then the issue centers on how much trust can be given to the census report. The Venezuelan example is glaring, more could be off the mark by considerable margins.

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census, Editorial, Guyana National Population, Housing Census, Venezuelans

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