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Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of St. Brandon, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Runion 200 km to the southwest and the island of Rodrigues 570 km to the northeast.

Country name:

  • conventional long form: Republic of Mauritius
  • conventional short form: Mauritius
  • local long form: Republic of Mauritius
  • local short form: Mauritius

Nationality:

  • adjective: Mauritian

Capital:

  • name: Port Louis
  • geographic coordinates: 20 09 S, 57 29 E
  • time difference: UTC+4 (9 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Independence:

  • 12 March 1968 (from UK)

Population:

  • 1,274,189 (July 2008 est.)

Population growth rate:

  • 0.8% (2008 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:

  • 0.1% (2001 est.)

Ethnic groups:

  • Indo-Mauritian 68%
  • Creole 27%
  • Sino-Mauritian 3%
  • Franco-Mauritian 2%

Religions:

  • Hindu 48%
  • Roman Catholic 23.6%
  • Muslim 16.6%
  • other Christian 8.6%
  • other 2.5%
  • unspecified 0.3%
  • none 0.4% (2000 census)

Languages:

  • Creole 80.5%
  • Bhojpuri 12.1%
  • French 3.4%
  • English (official; spoken by less than 1% of the population)
  • other 3.7%
  • unspecified 0.3% (2000 census)

Literacy:

  • definition: age 15 and over can read and write
  • total population: 84.4%
  • male: 88.4%
  • female: 80.5% (2000 census)

Government type:

  • parliamentary democracy

Location:

  • Southern Africa, island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar

Area - comparative:

  • almost 11 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:

  • 0 km

Climate:

  • tropical
  • modified by southeast trade winds
  • warm, dry winter (May to November)
  • hot, wet, humid summer (November to May)

Natural resources:

  • arable land
  • fish

Economy - overview:

Since independence in 1968, Mauritius has developed from a low-income, agriculturally based economy to a middle-income diversified economy with growing industrial, financial, and tourist sectors. For most of the period, annual growth has been in the order of 5% to 6%. This remarkable achievement has been reflected in more equitable income distribution, increased life expectancy, lowered infant mortality, and a much-improved infrastructure. The economy rests on sugar, tourism, textiles and apparel, and financial services, and is expanding into fish processing, information and communications technology, and hospitality and property development. Sugarcane is grown on about 90% of the cultivated land area and accounts for 15% of export earnings. The government's development strategy centers on creating vertical and horizontal clusters of development in these sectors. Mauritius has attracted more than 32,000 offshore entities, many aimed at commerce in India, South Africa, and China. Investment in the banking sector alone has reached over $1 billion. Mauritius, with its strong textile sector, has been well poised to take advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

GDP (official exchange rate):

  • $6.959 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

  • 4.6% (2007 est.

Background:

Although known to Arab and Malay sailors as early as the 10th century, Mauritius was first explored by the Portuguese in the 16th century and subsequently settled by the Dutch - who named it in honor of Prince Maurits van NASSAU - in the 17th century. The French assumed control in 1715, developing the island into an important naval base overseeing Indian Ocean trade, and establishing a plantation economy of sugar cane. The British captured the island in 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars. Mauritius remained a strategically important British naval base, and later an air station, playing an important role during World War II for anti-submarine and convoy operations, as well as the collection of signals intelligence. Independence from the UK was attained in 1968. A stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record, the country has attracted considerable foreign investment and has earned one of Africa's highest per capita incomes. Recent poor weather, declining sugar prices, and declining textile and apparel production, have slowed economic growth, leading to some protests over standards of living in the Creole community.

Environment - current issues:

  • water pollution
  • degradation of coral reefs

For more info please contact:
African Studies
(310) 825-3686
africa@international.ucla.edu