Population:
1,284,264 (July 2009 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 22.5% (male 147,136/female 142,121)
15-64 years: 70.4% (male 449,176/female 455,057)
65 years and over: 7.1% (male 36,309/female 54,465) (2009 est.)

Median age:
total: 31.9 years
male: 31 years
female: 32.7 years (2009 est.)

Population growth rate:
0.776% (2009 est.)

Birth rate:
14.41 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Death rate:
6.59 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.06 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Urbanization:
urban population: 42% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 0.9% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 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 (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 12.2 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 14.51 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 9.77 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74 years
male: 70.53 years
female: 77.65 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate:
1.81 children born/woman (2009 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
1.7% (2007 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
13,000 (2007 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
fewer than 100 (2001 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Mauritian(s)
adjective: Mauritian

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)

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:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 84.4%
male: 88.4%
female: 80.5% (2000 census)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 14 years
male: 14 years
female: 13 years (2005)

Education expenditures:
3.9% of GDP (2006)