Background Although known to Arab and Malay sailors as early as the 10th century, Mauritius was first explored by the Portuguese in 1505; it was subsequently held by the Dutch, French, and British before independence 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 and declining sugar prices have slowed economic growth, leading to some protests over standards of living in the Creole community. The People | Population | 1,250,882 (July 2007 est.) | | Age structure | -14 years: 23.5% (male 147,808/female 146,270)
15-64 years: 69.8% (male 436,043/female 437,441)
65 years and over: 6.7% (male 32,475/female 50,845) (2007 est.) | | Life expectancy at birth | total population: 72.88 years
male: 68.92 years
female: 76.9 years (2007 est.) | Population growth rate | 0.798% (2007 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) | | Population below poverty line | 10% (2001 est.) | | People living with HIV/AIDS | 700 (2001 est.) | | HIV/AIDS - deaths | less than 100 (2001 est.) | | Mobile phones in use | 13,300 (2005) | | Internet users | 182,000 (2006) |
Data (Background & The People) provided by The World Factbook |