People

Big game fishing in Mauritius

M Boodhun

Population: 1 168 256 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 26% (male 155 917; female 152 563)

15-64 years: 68% (male 393 330; female 397 285)

65 years and over: 6% (male 28 092; female 41 069) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.2% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 18.64 births/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 6.69 deaths/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1 male(s)

under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.68 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 16.54 deaths/1 000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 70.9 years

male: 67.05 years

female: 74.74 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.22 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:

noun: Mauritian(s)

adjective: Mauritian

Ethnic groups: Indo-Mauritian 68% Creole 27% Sino-Mauritian 3% Franco-Mauritian 2%

Religions: Hindu 52% Christian 28.3% (Roman Catholic 26% Protestant 2.3%) Muslim 16.6% other 3.1%

Languages: English (official) French (official),Creole French Hindi Urdu Hakka Bojpoori

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 82.9%

male: 87.1%

female: 78.8% (1995 est.)