Guyana GDP Per Capita Now Overtakes the United States, Adjusted for Prices
Guyana · Economy
Key Facts
- —The crossover World Bank data put Guyana at US$97,899 per person in 2025 on a purchasing-power basis, against US$90,027 for the United States.
- —The IMF view its April 2026 outlook projects Guyana at US$95,477 for 2026 and the United States at US$94,430, a gap of barely 1%.
- —The catch in plain market dollars Guyana is nowhere close, at a projected US$33,167 per person in 2026 against US$94,430 for the United States.
- —The engine the ExxonMobil-led Stabroek Block pumped a record 918,000 barrels a day in February 2026, up from nothing at the start of 2019.
- —The shadow President Irfaan Ali faces opposition calls for a probe into a state farmland lease. He denies wrongdoing, and no inquiry has been appointed.
It rests on four oil platforms and a country of under a million people, amid questions over a state land lease.
Guyana GDP per capita has quietly climbed past that of the United States. The catch is that this only holds once you adjust for how far money goes at home.
In plain market dollars, the average Guyanese still earns about a third of what the average American does.
What the Guyana GDP per capita figures actually show
World Bank data for 2025 put Guyana GDP per capita at US$97,899, measured at purchasing power parity. The United States sits at US$90,027 on the same measure.
The IMF’s April 2026 outlook tells a similar story for the year ahead. It projects Guyana at US$95,477 and the United States at US$94,430.
So the crossover is real, but the margin in the IMF numbers is thin. It is also a projection, not a finished year of data.
Why the price adjustment changes everything
Purchasing power parity asks what a dollar actually buys inside a country. Because rent, food and services cost less in Guyana, each dollar stretches further there.
Strip that adjustment away and the picture flips. On raw exchange rates the IMF sees Guyana at US$33,167 per person in 2026, roughly a third of the American figure.
In short, Guyana GDP per capita beats America on local buying power, not on dollars a bank would wire abroad. That distinction is the whole story.
The oil that did it
Guyana pumped no oil at all before the end of 2019. Then ExxonMobil’s Liza Destiny vessel started up offshore, and the economy began to bend upward.
Growth reached 43.8% in 2024 and 19.3% in 2025, according to World Bank figures. Few countries have ever posted numbers like that outside wartime rebuilds.
As a result, a nation of about 831,000 people now produces roughly US$27 billion of output a year. That was around US$5 billion a decade ago.
Four ships doing all the work
Everything flows from four floating production vessels in the Stabroek Block. They are the Liza Destiny, the Liza Unity, the Prosperity and the ONE GUYANA.
The newest of them, ONE GUYANA, started producing in August 2025 at the Yellowtail field. Since then, monthly output has hovered near 900,000 barrels a day.
February 2026 set the record at 918,000 barrels a day. April came in at 903,000, so the plateau is holding rather than climbing.
One million barrels is within reach
A fifth vessel, the Errea Wittu, left the Singapore shipyard in mid-2026 and is heading for the Uaru field. It can process about 250,000 barrels a day.
Once it starts up, expected before the end of 2026, Guyana should cross one million barrels a day. Very few countries have ever got there this quickly.
Two more projects follow. Whiptail is due in 2027, and Hammerhead around 2029.
With ExxonMobil pointing to roughly 1.7 million barrels a day of capacity by 2030.
Who actually owns the barrels
ExxonMobil operates Stabroek with a 45% stake. Hess, now part of Chevron, holds 30%, while China’s CNOOC holds the remaining 25%.
Guyana’s share arrives through royalties, profit oil and a sovereign fund. Because the partners recover costs first, the state’s take builds gradually rather than all at once.
That structure has been argued over since the contract was signed. Still, it is the arrangement that turned a small farming and mining economy into an oil producer.
What an average hides
An average is a blunt instrument in a country this small. Divide a huge oil income among 831,000 people and everyone looks rich on paper.
Daily life has not caught up. Housing waiting lists run into the tens of thousands.
And the government says it wants most regional backlogs cleared by the end of 2027. Meanwhile the interior remains hard to reach and thinly served.
So the statistical milestone and the lived experience are still some distance apart.
A land row the government has not settled
The boom has sharpened scrutiny of who gets state land. In July 2026, Kaieteur News published a lease showing two plots totalling 20.338 acres on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
The 2011 document names then-president Bharrat Jagdeo as the grantor. Opposition politicians say the farm at Long Creek has since grown to around 150 acres.
President Irfaan Ali disputes that size, saying it is not even half of what critics claim. He has not published a precise figure.
What the president and his critics say
Ali says the farm is public knowledge, was declared to the Integrity Commission. And was built with bank loans rather than state money.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall says no evidence of corruption exists. The Alliance For Change demanded an independent probe in early July 2026.
A few days later, the opposition APNU called on Ali to resign and asked for a forensic audit of highway land allocations. Transparency International Guyana has urged an immediate and impartial investigation.
No allegation has been tested or proven, and the president denies any wrongdoing.
No commission of inquiry, despite the calls
Despite the pressure, the government has not appointed a commission of inquiry into farmland or state land allocation. Nor has any minister been formally named in such a body.
The only commission of inquiry gazetted in Guyana in 2026 concerns the sinking of the vessel MV Barima. Its terms of reference were published at the end of July.
For now, therefore, the land question sits with the Integrity Commission and with public argument. Findings from any independent process remain pending.
What to watch next
Three things will decide whether the headline number sticks. First, whether the Errea Wittu starts on time and lifts output past a million barrels a day.
Second, whether oil prices hold, because a soft market would shrink Guyana’s revenue faster than its production falls. Third, whether the land dispute gets an independent airing.
Overall, the economics look secure for several more years. The politics of who benefits look far less settled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Guyana really richer per person than the United States?
Only on a purchasing-power basis. World Bank 2025 data show Guyana at US$97,899 per person against US$90,027 for the United States.
Which data source says so, and is it a projection?
Two sources agree on Guyana GDP per capita. The World Bank’s 2025 outturn already places Guyana ahead.
Is there a commission of inquiry into farmland allocation in Guyana?
No. Opposition parties, the Alliance For Change and Transparency International Guyana have all called for an independent investigation. But the government has not appointed one.
How much oil is Guyana producing now?
The ExxonMobil-led Stabroek Block averaged 903,000 barrels a day in April 2026, after a record 918,000 in February. A fifth vessel, the Errea Wittu, is expected to push output past one million barrels a day before the end of 2026.
Connected Coverage
Sources: IMF World Economic Outlook (April 2026); World Bank World Development Indicators; OilNOW; ExxonMobil; Kaieteur News; Demerara Waves; Transparency International Guyana.
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