The dominant religion of French Guiana is Roman Catholicism; the Maroons and some Amerindian people maintain their own religions. The Hmong people are also mainly Catholic owing to the influence of missionaries who helped bring them to French Guiana.
Education in French Guiana is compulsory for all children between ages 6 and 16, and the medium of tuition is French because the country is an overseas department of France. Enrollment at primary school which lasts for 5 years is almost 100%, except for in remoter rural areas where facilities are sometimes sparse.
French Guiana, as part of France, forms part of the European Union - the largest landmass for an area outside of Europe (since Greenland left the European Community in 1985), with one of the longest EU external boundaries. It is one of only three European Union territories outside Europe that is not an island (the others being the Spanish Autonomous Cities in Africa, Ceuta and Melilla).