Data at glance of Mauritius - average on period

History

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. Their presence led to the rapid disappearance of the flightless dodo bird that has since become one of the most well-known examples of extinction in modern times. The Dutch abandoned their financially distressed settlement in 1710, although a number of formerly enslaved people remained. In 1722, the French established what would become a highly profitable settlement focused on sugar cane plantations that were reliant on the labor of enslaved people brought to Mauritius from other parts of Africa. In the 1790s, the island had a brief period of autonomous rule when plantation owners rejected French control because of laws ending slavery that were temporarily in effect during the French Revolution. Britain captured the island in 1810 as part of the Napoleonic Wars but kept most of the French administrative structure, which remains to this day in the form of the country’s legal codes and widespread use of the French Creole language. The abolition of slavery in 1835 -- later than most other British colonies -- led to increased reliance on contracted laborers from the Indian subcontinent to work on plantations. Today their descendants form the majority of the population. Mauritius remained a strategically important British naval base and later an air station, and it played a role during World War II in anti-submarine and convoy operations, as well as in the collection of signals intelligence. Mauritius gained independence from the UK in 1968 as a Parliamentary Republic and has remained a stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record. The country also attracted considerable foreign investment and now has one of Africa's highest per capita incomes. Mauritius’ often-fractious coalition politics has been dominated by two prominent families, each of which has had father-son pairs who have been prime minister over multiple, often nonconsecutive, terms. Seewoosagur RAMGOOLAM (1968-76) was Mauritius’ first prime minister, and he was succeeded by Anerood JUGNAUTH (1982-95, 2000-03, 2014-17); his son Navin RAMGOOLAM (1995-2000, 2005-14); and Paul Raymond BERENGER (2003-05), the only non-Hindu prime minister of post-independence Mauritius. In 2017, Pravind JUGNAUTH became prime minister after his father stepped down short of completing his term, and he was elected in his own right in 2019. Mauritius claims the French island of Tromelin and the British Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory). Since 2017, Mauritius has secured favorable UN General Assembly resolutions and an International Court of Justice advisory opinion relating to its sovereignty dispute with the UK.

Environment

Area: 2,040 km2

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

Ethnic characteristics

Groups: Indo-Mauritian (compose approximately two thirds of the total population), Creole, Sino-Mauritian, Franco-Mauritiannote: Mauritius has not had a question on ethnicity on its national census since 1972

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.)

Government

Capital: Port Louis

Government type: parliamentary republic

Executive branch

Chief of state: President Dharam GOKHOOL (since 7 December 2024)

Head of government: Prime Minister Navin RAMGOOLAM (since 13 November 2024)cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers (Council of Ministers) appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime ministerelection/appointment process: president and vice president indirectly elected by the National Assembly for 5-year renewable terms; the president appoints the prime minister and deputy prime minister who have the majority support in the National Assemblymost recent election date: 7 November 2019election results: 2019: Prithvirajsing ROOPUN (MSM) elected president by the National Assembly - unanimous voteexpected date of next election: 2024

Legislative branch

Description: legislature name: National Assembly - Assemblée nationalelegislative structure: unicameralchamber name: National Assemblynumber of seats: 67 (62 directly elected; 4 appointed)electoral system: plurality/majorityscope of elections: full renewalterm in office: 5 yearsmost recent election date: 11/10/2024parties elected and seats per party: Alliance Du Changement (Alliance for Change, AdC) (60); Other (2)percentage of women in chamber: 17.9%expected date of next election: October 2029