Dear Editor,
Reference is made to your news report (Nov 13) with caption “Guyana has world’s biggest diaspora – Forbes report”. It is indeed the largest size in terms of percentage of a nation’s population that migrated outward but it is inaccurate, a gross underestimation. The report states that some 36.4% of the population born in Guyana live abroad. It is unknown how the study arrived at that figure. The year or period is not given.
It is my considered view and that of several other researchers who study the Guyanese diaspora or those who seek to estimate or model its size that such a figure grossly underestimates and underreports the size of the diaspora in terms of its proportion of born Guyanese. One can examine the numbers provided by the US and Canada Immigrant Departments on the number of Guyanese who entered legally and conclude that the Forbes Magazine report is grossly inaccurate.
Sincerely,
Vishnu Bisram
