Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President: Desire "Desi" Bouterse
Population
584,578
560,157
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
71.120 years
Capital City
Paramaribo
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Paramaribo (population: 223,757)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.77
GDP per capita
$9,600 US
Literacy Rate
%
89.6%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
3.6
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
25.5%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
9.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished in practice
Political System
parliamentary democracy
constitutional democracy
Independence date
25 November 1975 (from the Netherlands)
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 27.4%, Protestant 25.2% (predominantly Moravian), Roman Catholic 22.8%, Muslim 19.6%, indigenous beliefs 5%
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
Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese
Exports
alumina, gold, crude oil, lumber, shrimp and fish, rice, bananas
External Debt
$504,300,000 US
Exchange Rate
Surinamese dollars (SRD) per US dollar - 2.745 (2007), 2.745 (2006), 2.7317 (2005), 2.7336 (2004), 2.6013 (2003) note: in January 2004, the government replaced the guilder with the Surinamese dollar, tied to a US dollar-dominated currency basket
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
0.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between French Guiana and Guyana
Area
28,896 km sq
163,820 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
386 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
