Mauritius

Country name	Republic of Mauritius
Capital	Port Louis
Independence	12 March 1968 (from the UK)
National holiday	Independence Day, 12 March (1968)
Population	1,313,095 (July 2012 est.)
Sex ratio	1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2011 est.)
Nationality	Mauritian(s)
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)
Languages	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)
Literacy	Age 15 and over can read and write Total population: 88.5% Male: 90.9% Female: 86.2% (2010 est.)
Location	Southern Africa, island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar
Geographic coordinates	20 17 S, 57 33 E
Map references	Africa
Area	total: 2,040 sq km land: 2,030 sq km water: 10 sq km note: includes Agalega Islands, Cargados Carajos Shoals (Saint Brandon), and Rodrigues
Area - comparative	almost 11 times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries	0 km
Coastline	177 km
Maritime claims	measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
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
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Mont Piton 828 m
Natural resources	arable land, fish
Exports - commodities	Clothing and textiles, sugar, cut flowers, molasses, fish
Imports - commodities	Manufactured goods, capital equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals
Land use	arable land: 49.02% permanent crops: 2.94% other: 48.04% (2005)
Irrigated land	210 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources	2.2 cu km (2001)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	total: 0.61 cu km/yr (25%/14%/60%) per capita: 488 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards	cyclones (November to April); almost completely surrounded by reefs that may pose maritime hazards
Environment - current issues	water pollution, degradation of coral reefs
Environment - international agreements	party to: 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 signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note	the main island, from which the country derives its name, is of volcanic origin and is almost entirely surrounded by coral reefs; former home of the dodo, a large flightless bird related to pigeons, driven to extinction by the end of the 17th century through a combination of hunting and the introduction of predatory species