We characterize the star formation in the low metallicity galaxy NGC 6822 over the past few hundred million years , using GALEX far-UV ( FUV , 1344 - 1786 Å ) and near-UV ( NUV , 1771 - 2831 Å ) imaging , and ground-based H \alpha imaging . From GALEX FUV image , we define 77 star-forming ( SF ) regions with area > 860 pc ^ { 2 } , and surface brightness \lesssim 26.8 mag ( AB ) arcsec ^ { -2 } , within 0.2 \deg ( 1.7kpc ) of the center of the galaxy . We estimate the extinction by interstellar dust in each SF region from resolved photometry of the hot stars it contains : E ( B - V ) ranges from the minimum foreground value of 0.22 mag up to 0.66 \pm 0.21 mag . The integrated FUV and NUV photometry , compared with stellar population models , yields ages of the SF complexes up to a few hundred Myr , and masses from 2 \times 10 ^ { 2 } \cal M _ { \odot } to 1.5 \times 10 ^ { 6 } \cal M _ { \odot } . The derived ages and masses strongly depend on the assumed type of interstellar selective extinction , which we find to vary across the galaxy . The total mass of the FUV-defined SF regions translates into an average star formation rate ( SFR ) of 1.4 \times 10 ^ { -2 } \cal M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } over the past 100 Myr , and SFR = 1.0 \times 10 ^ { -2 } \cal M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } in the most recent 10 Myr . The latter is in agreement with the value that we derive from the H \alpha luminosity , SFR =0.008 \cal M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } . The SFR in the most recent epoch becomes higher if we add the SFR=0.02 \cal M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } inferred from far-IR measurements , which trace star formation still embedded in dust ( age \lesssim a few Myr ) .