French Guiana is an overseas department of France. Two members of the National Assembly represent it in the French government. Most people live on the coast: the capital, Cayenne, has half the population of the entire country. Inland, the land slopes up to the Guiana Highlands. Much of the little-explored, barely inhabited interior is covered by thick rainforest. Lying just above the Equator, French Guiana has a hot, humid, tropical climate. Since 1964 French Guiana has been the home of the European Space Programme, which has its main launch site at Kourou, on the coast.

People

French Guiana’s Creole people are descended from a mixture of French settlers and Africans who arrived to work on plantations in the 19th century. They make up the largest part of the population; many of the rest are descended from people of the French West Indies (Guadeloupe and Martinique), France and Laos. In the rainforest, along the River Maroni, live the Maroons, the descendants of escaped African slaves. French is spoken by everybody. The French social security system helps people with health care, benefits and insurance, and so nearly all the inhabitants of French Guiana have a high standard of living.

Economy

French Guiana has large areas of hardwood forest: sawn logs cut from its trees are quickly becoming an important export. Agriculture and industry are very limited in the country; the soil is very poor and there are hardly any roads. Inland, people travel by river. Much of French Guiana’s income is from France. Nearly all its food and energy is imported.

Kourou

A European Space Agency rocket launch site at Kourou provides jobs for around 15,000 people. The site was chosen because it is close to the Equator: here, the Earth’s spin is faster, helping to launch rockets eastward with extra force. It is also a good site because it has open sea to the east, so debris from rocket launches fall into the water and cause no damage to the land.

Facts about French Guiana

Population 292,354 (2025)

Area 89,150 sq km

Highest Point Bellevue de l'Inini 851 m (2792 ft)

Capital Cayenne, metro area pop. 151,103

Languages French, Creole

Religions Christian (Roman Catholic), indigenous beliefs

Ethnicity Creole / mulatto (mixed European / French and African) 82%, French and other European 14%, Native American (Arawak, Carib, Emirillon and others) 4%

Currency Euro (EUR)

Chief exports fish, shrimp, timber, gold