One of the poorest countries in the world with little to no infrastructure and massively underdeveloped - 60% of the country is forested.
No real natural resources that are sought after on the world market, the history of slavery and indentured slavery is still rife in the country. You see it in the political make up of the government - the "Indian" guyanese who came to Guyana as "workers" but really they were just slaves getting pennies to work and then the black guyanese who are descendants of slaves who worked the plantations as well. This social divide has riddled the country ever since independence as when a majority black government is in, they do more to help black guyanese and when Indian guyanese are in power, they do the same. This goes back and forth and there's real bad blood between the two with violent outbreaks happening between them often.
Country has never really been able to progress because of this and most of the people are poor due to government corruption like most Caribbean and South American countries. Factor in lack of food resources, materials for housing (a lot of wooden shack like homes throughout Guyana), poor education system, isolation... this can lead to crippling depression. Most of the suicides are done by drinking poison.... beautiful country with strong resilient people. I wish the world knew more about this little black country in South America, it's really a hidden gem with lots of potential but the social, economic and political make up of society in Guyana make this seem impossible. Shorty from Black Panther who played T'Challa sister is Guyanese btw...