Mauritius
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Port Louis
- Population
- 1,311,375 (2025 est.)
- Area
- 2,040 sq km
- Government
- parliamentary republic
- Languages
- Creole 86.5%, Bhojpuri 5.3%, French 4.1%, two languages 1.4%, other 2.6% (includes English, one of the two official languages of the National Assembly, which is spoken by less than 1% of the population), unspecified 0.1% (2011 est.)
- Religions
- Hindu 48.5%, Roman Catholic 26.3%, Muslim 17.3%, other Christian 6.4%, other 0.6%, none 0.7%, unspecified 0.1% (2011 est.)
- Ethnic Groups
- Indo-Mauritian (compose approximately two thirds of the total population), Creole, Sino-Mauritian, Franco-Mauritian
- Currency
- Mauritian rupees (MUR)
- Life Expectancy
- 75.4 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .mu
- Climate
- tropical, modified by southeast trade winds; warm, dry winter (May to November); hot, wet, humid summer (November to May)
- Terrain
- small coastal plain rising to discontinuous mountains encircling central plateau
- Natural Resources
- arable land, fish
- Major Exports
- fish, garments, raw sugar, fertilizers, diamonds (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
Although known to Arab and European sailors since at least the early 1500s, the island of Mauritius was uninhabited until 1638 when the Dutch established a settlement named in honor of Prince Maurits van NASSAU.