Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President: Rajkeswur Purryag
Population
584,578
1,313,095
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
74.710 years
Capital City
Port Louis
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Port Louis (population: 155,226)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.802
GDP per capita
$15,100 US
Literacy Rate
%
84.4%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
5.5
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
17.1%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
7.800%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
parliamentary democracy
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
12 March 1968 (from UK)
Religions
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
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
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous 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)
Exports
clothing and textiles, sugar, cut flowers, molasses, fish
External Debt
$5,205,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Mauritian rupees (MUR) per US dollar - 27.973 (2008 est.), 31.798 (2007), 31.656 (2006), 29.496 (2005), 27.499 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
0.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0
1
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Southern Africa, island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar
Area
28,896 km sq
2,040 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
177 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
tropical, modified by southeast trade winds; warm, dry winter (May to November); hot, wet, humid summer (November to May)
