]! ^! 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. 
]" ^" Southern Africa, island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar ^# 20 17 S, 57 33 E ^$ Political Map of the World ^% `! 2,040 sq km `" 2,030 sq km `# 10 sq km `* includes Agalega Islands, Cargados Carajos Shoals (Saint Brandon), and Rodrigues ^& almost 11 times the size of Washington, DC ^' 0 km ^( 177 km ^) `$ 12 nm `N 200 nm `O 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin ^* tropical, modified by southeast trade winds; warm, dry winter (May to November); hot, wet, humid summer (November to May) ^+ small coastal plain rising to discontinuous mountains encircling central plateau ^, `% Indian Ocean 0 m `& Mont Piton 828 m ^- arable land, fish ^. `' 49.02% `( 2.94% `) 48.04% (2005) ^/ 220 sq km (2003) ^0 cyclones (November to April); almost completely surrounded by reefs that may pose maritime hazards ^1 water pollution, degradation of coral reefs _P `P Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands `Q none of the selected agreements ^2 the main island, from which the country derives its name, is of volcanic origin and is almost entirely surrounded by coral reefs 
]# ^3 1,250,882 (July 2007 est.) ^4 `+ 23.5% (male 147,808/female 146,270) `, 69.8% (male 436,043/female 437,441) `- 6.7% (male 32,475/female 50,845) (2007 est.) ^5 `! 31.2 years `. 30.3 years `/ 32.1 years (2007 est.) ^6 0.798% (2007 est.) ^7 15.26 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) ^8 6.88 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) ^9 -0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) ^: `0 1.02 male(s)/female `1 1.011 male(s)/female `, 0.997 male(s)/female `- 0.639 male(s)/female `2 0.971 male(s)/female (2007 est.) ^; `! 14.14 deaths/1,000 live births `. 16.72 deaths/1,000 live births `/ 11.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) ^< `2 72.88 years `. 68.92 years `/ 76.9 years (2007 est.) ^= 1.94 children born/woman (2007 est.) ^> 0.1% (2001 est.) ^? 700 (2001 est.) ^@ less than 100 (2001 est.) ^A `3 Mauritian(s) `4 Mauritian ^B Indo-Mauritian 68%, Creole 27%, Sino-Mauritian 3%, Franco-Mauritian 2% ^C Hindu 48%, Roman Catholic 23.6%, Muslim 16.6%, other Christian 8.6%, other 2.5%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.4% (2000 census) ^D Creole 80.5%, Bhojpuri 12.1%, French 3.4%, English (official; spoken by less than 1% of the population), other 3.7%, unspecified 0.3% (2000 census) ^E `5 age 15 and over can read and write `2 85.6% `. 88.6% `/ 82.7% (2003 est.) 
]$ ^F `6 Republic of Mauritius `7 Mauritius `Z Republic of Mauritius `[ Mauritius ^H parliamentary democracy ^I `8 Port Louis `9 20 10 S, 57 30 E `: UTC+4 (9 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) ^J 9 districts and 3 dependencies*; Agalega Islands*, Black River, Cargados Carajos Shoals*, Flacq, Grand Port, Moka, Pamplemousses, Plaines Wilhems, Port Louis, Riviere du Rempart, Rodrigues*, Savanne ^K 12 March 1968 (from UK) ^L Independence Day, 12 March (1968) ^M 12 March 1968; amended 12 March 1992 ^N based on French civil law system with elements of English common law in certain areas; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations ^O 18 years of age; universal ^P `; President Sir Anerood JUGNAUTH (since 7 October 2003); Vice President Abdool Raouf BUNDHUN (since 25 February 2002) `< Prime Minister Navinchandra RAMGOOLAM (since 5 July 2005) `= Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister `> president and vice president elected by the National Assembly for five-year terms (eligible for a second term); election last held 25 February 2002 (next to be held in 2007); prime minister and deputy prime minister appointed by the president, responsible to the National Assembly `? Karl OFFMANN elected president and Raouf BUNDHUN elected vice president; percent of vote by the National Assembly - NA%; note - Karl OFFMANN stepped down on 30 September 2003 ^Q unicameral National Assembly (70 seats; 62 elected by popular vote, 8 appointed by the election commission to give representation to various ethnic minorities; members serve five-year terms) `> last held on 3 July 2005 (next to be held in 2010) `? percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - AS 38, MSM/MMM 22, OPR 2; appointed seats - AS 4, MSM/MMM 2, OPR 2 ^R Supreme Court ^S Alliance Sociale or AS; Hizbullah [Cehl Mohamed FAKEEMEEAH]; Mauritian Labor Party or MLP [Navinchandra RAMGOOLAM]; Mauritian Militant Movement or MMM [Paul BERENGER] (in coalition with MSM); Mauritian Social Democrat Party or PMSD [Charles Xavier-Luc DUVAL]; Militant Socialist Movement or MSM (the governing party) [Pravind JUGNAUTH]; Rodrigues Movement or MR [Joseph (Nicholas) Von MALLY]; Rodrigues Peoples Organization or OPR [Serge CLAIR] ^T various labor unions ^U ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, C, COMESA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, InOC, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OIF, OPCW, PCA, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO ^V `R Ambassador Usha JEETAH `S 4301 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 441, Washington, DC 20008 `T [1] (202) 244-1491, 1492 `U [1] (202) 966-0983 ^W `R Ambassador John PRICE `_ 4th Floor, Rogers House, John Kennedy Street, Port Louis `` international mail: P. O. Box 544, Port Louis; US mail: American Embassy, Port Louis, US Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-2450 `T [230] 202-4400 `U [230] 208-9534 ^X four equal horizontal bands of red (top), blue, yellow, and green 
]% ^Y Since independence in 1968, Mauritius has developed from a low-income, agriculturally based economy to a middle-income diversified economy with growing industrial, financial, and tourist sectors. For most of the period, annual growth has been in the order of 5% to 6%. This remarkable achievement has been reflected in more equitable income distribution, increased life expectancy, lowered infant mortality, and a much-improved infrastructure. Sugarcane is grown on about 90% of the cultivated land area and accounts for 25% of export earnings. The government's development strategy centers on expanding local financial institutions and building a domestic information telecommunications industry. Mauritius has attracted more than 9,000 offshore entities, many aimed at commerce in India and South Africa, and investment in the banking sector alone has reached over $1 billion. Mauritius, with its strong textile sector, has been well poised to take advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). ^Z $16.72 billion (2006 est.) ^[ $7.135 billion (2006 est.) ^\ 4.3% (2006 est.) ^] $13,500 (2006 est.) ^^ `@ 5.1% `A 25.2% `B 69.7% (2006 est.) ^_ 555,000 (2006 est.) ^` agriculture and fishing 14%, construction and industry 36%, transportation and communication 7%, trade, restaurants, hotels 16%, finance 3%, other services 24% (1995) ^a 9.4% (2006 est.) _! 10% (2001 est.) _" `C NA% `D NA% _d 37 (1987 est.) _# 8.9% (2006 est.) _V 23.6% of GDP (2006 est.) _$ `E $1.475 billion `F $1.854 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) _% 57.9% of GDP (2006 est.) _& sugarcane, tea, corn, potatoes, bananas, pulses; cattle, goats; fish _' food processing (largely sugar milling), textiles, clothing, mining, chemicals, metal products, transport equipment, nonelectrical machinery, tourism _( 8% (2000 est.) _) 2.107 billion kWh (2004) _* 1.96 billion kWh (2004) _+ 0 kWh (2004) _, 0 kWh (2004) _- 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) _. 21,500 bbl/day (2004 est.) _/ NA bbl/day _0 NA bbl/day _1 0 cu m (2004 est.) _2 0 cu m (2004 est.) _Q $-651 million (2006 est.) _3 $2.318 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) _4 clothing and textiles, sugar, cut flowers, molasses _5 UK 32%, France 17%, US 9.7%, UAE 8.6%, Madagascar 5.7%, Italy 5.7% (2005) _6 $3.391 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) _7 manufactured goods, capital equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals _8 China 9.8%, South Africa 8.6%, France 7.6%, India 6.9%, Bahrain 5.2%, Finland 4.8%, Germany 4.1% (2005) _[ $1.358 billion (2006 est.) _9 $2.834 billion (2006 est.) _: $42 million (1997) _; Mauritian rupee (MUR) _< Mauritian rupees per US dollar - 31.656 (2006), 29.496 (2005), 27.499 (2004), 27.902 (2003), 29.962 (2002) _= 1 July - 30 June 
]& _> 359,000 (2005) _? 713,300 (2005) _@ `G small system with good service `H primarily microwave radio relay trunk system `I country code - 230; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean); new microwave link to Reunion; HF radiotelephone links to several countries; fiber optic submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC/SAFE) provides connectivity to Europe and Asia _A AM 4, FM 9, shortwave 0 (2002) _B 2 (plus several repeaters) (1997) _C .mu _D 4,997 (2006) _E 180,000 (2005) 
]' _F 6 (2006) _G `! 2 `a 1 `c 1 (2006) _R `! 4 `c 3 `W 1 (2006) _H `! 2,020 km `K 2,020 km (includes 75 km of expressways) (2005) _S `! 6 ships (1000 GRT or over) 22,386 GRT/23,214 DWT by type: bulk carrier 2, passenger/cargo 2, refrigerated cargo 2 `X 4 (India 2, Switzerland 2) (2006) _I Port Louis 
]( _J no regular military forces; National Police Force, Special Mobile Force, National Coast Guard (2007) _K males age 18-49: 313,271 (2005 est.) _U 0.3% (2006 est.) 
]) _N Mauritius claims the Chagos Archipelago (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory), and its former inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius; claims French-administered Tromelin Island _O consumer and transshipment point for heroin from South Asia; small amounts of cannabis produced and consumed locally; significant offshore financial industry creates potential for money laundering, but corruption levels are relatively low and the government appears generally to be committed to regulating its banking industry 