Africa
To which language should you translate to localize in Mauritius?
What we know from our community
Creole is spoken throughout the inhabited islands that constitute the Republic of Mauritius: Mauritius itself, but also Rodrigues and Agalega. Although it coexists with other languages, i.e., predominantly French and English (the country was a French colony first and then a British colony), Creole is the ONLY language that everyone speaks and understands. It is widely used in the media, advertising and, of course, day-to-day interactions.
Along with Creole, French and English, other languages are spoken by individual communities on the islands: Indian languages (including Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telegu, Marathi and Bhojpuri – bank notes are, in fact, written in English, Tamil and Hindi and contain Roman, Devanagari, Tamil and Gujarati numerals), Chinese languages (Mandarin, Hakka and Cantonese) as well as Arab. This heterophonic environment, slowly accumulated through years of forced and unforced migration, constitute the pride and true wealth of Mauritians.Most words in Mauritian Creole are based on French. However, they have yielded different pronunciations, grammar and meaning over time. The word banane, for instance, is an iconic false friend in French. Firstly, it is spelled /banane/ (and not /banan/ – every letter in Mauritian Creole is pronounced) and, secondly, it has nothing to do with the fruit! Banane means “year”.
Mauritian Creole
Tou dimounn koz Kreol lor lansanb bann zil Repiblik Moris kot ena abitan, ki li Moris, Rodrig ouswa Agalega. Si Kreol existe akote bann lezot lang, setadir prinsipalman Franse ek Angle (pei-la ti dabor enn koloni franse ek answit enn koloni britanik), limem SEL lang ki tou dimounn koze e konpran. Servi Kreol dan bann media, dan bann reklam ek, evidaman, dan lavi toulezour.
Avek Kreol, Franse ek Angle, ena bann lezot lang ki servi dan bann kominote dan Moris: ena bann lang indien (notaman Hindi, Ourdou, Tamil, Telegou, Marathi ek Bhojpouri – nou bann biye labank finn ekrir an Angle, Tamil ek Hindi, avek bann sif romin, devanagari, tamil ek goujrati), bann lang sinwa (Mandarin, Hakka e Kantone) ek ousi Arab. Sa lanvironnman eterofonik la finn konstrir avek letan, atraver bann migrasion forse ek ousi lib bann dimounn. Zordi, li fer fierte tou bann Morisien e konstitie pli gran larises pei-la.
Preski tou bann mo dan Kreol Morisien sorti depi Franse me zot finn evolie pou gagn zot prop prononsiasion, reg gramer ek sinifikasion. Par exanp, si nou aret nou lor mo “banane” e konpar li avek mo franse ki ekrir parey la. Premierman, nou pa pronons zot parey: nou dir /banane/ (nou pa dir /banan/ – bizin pronons sak let dan Kreol). Deziemman, li pa ena okenn relasion avek enn fri!
Hugues, Professional translator
LANGUAGE INSIGHT
Official language
English and French
Actual languages
French Creole (86.5%; 1.09 mln), Bhojpuri (5.3%; 66k), French (4.1%; 51k), Hindi (1.2%; 15k), Tamil (0.8%; 10k), other (2.1%; 26k)
What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in Mauritius
(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)
- 33/150 localize by translating into English
- 6/150 localize by translating into both English and French
- 4/150 localize by translating into French
- 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French and Portuguese
- 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, Bhojpuri, Mauritian Creole and Mauritian Sign Language
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3M
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ABB
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Accenture
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Adidas
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Adobe
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Airbnb
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Aldi
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Amazon
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American Airlines
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American Express
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Apple
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Audi
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Autodesk
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Avis
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Bayer
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BMW
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Booking.com
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Bosch
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British Airways
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Bumble
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Burberry
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BYD
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Canon
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Capgemini
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Cartier
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Caterpillar
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Chevrolet
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Cisco Systems
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Citibank
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Coca-Cola
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Costco
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Dell
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Deloitte
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Delta
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DHL
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Disney+
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Dyson
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eBay
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Eli Lilly
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Emirates
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Ernst & Young
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Facebook
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FedEx
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Ford
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Four Seasons
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Fujifilm
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GE
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Gillette
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GoDaddy
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Google
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Gucci
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Haier
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Heineken
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Hermès
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Hertz
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Hilton
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Hisense
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Hitachi
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Honda
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Hotels.com
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HP
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HP Enterprise
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HSBC
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Huawei
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Hyatt
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Hyundai
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IBM
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IKEA
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Intel
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InterContinental Hotels
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J&J
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Jack Daniel's
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Jehovah’s Witnesses
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John Deere
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Kellogg's
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Kia
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KPMG
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L'Oréal
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Land Rover
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LEGO
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Lenovo
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Lexus
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LG
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Louis Vuitton
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Lululemon
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LUSH
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Marriott
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MasterCard
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McDonald's
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Mercedes-Benz
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Merck
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Microsoft
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Mitsubishi Electric
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Nestlé
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Netflix
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Nike
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Nikon
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Nintendo
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Nio
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Nissan
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NIVEA
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Oracle
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Pampers
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Panasonic
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PayPal
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Pepsi
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Pfizer
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Philips
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Pitney Bowes
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Porsche
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Procter & Gamble
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PWC
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Revolut
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Rolex
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Royal Caribbean
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Salesforce
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Samsung
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Sanofi
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SAP
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Sephora
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Shopify
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Siemens
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Sony
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Spotify
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Starbucks
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Steelcase
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Stripe
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Subaru
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Tesla
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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Tiffany
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Tinder
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Toshiba
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Toyota
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TripAdvisor
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Uber
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United Airlines
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UPS
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Visa
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Volkswagen
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Volvo Cars
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Vrbo
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Walmart
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Western Union
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Wikipedia
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Wise
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WordPress
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Workday
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Xerox
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Xiaomi (Mi)
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Zara
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Zoom
If you need others information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data
Overview
Language
Official language
French, English
Actual languages
Mauritian Creole, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Urdu, Chinese
T-index 0.016%
T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.
Demography
Capital: Port Louis
Currency: Mauritian rupee
Population: 1.26 mln
Population density: 632/km2
Economy
GDP: 14.64 billion USD (2023)
GDP per capita: 11,613 USD (2023)
Exports: $2.6 billion (2022)
Statistics
Unemployment rate: 6.1% (2023)
Urbanisation: 40.87% (2023)
Literacy: 92% (2021)
Internet users: 75.5% penetration, 982.5 thousands
Conventions
Numbering system
Arabic numbering system and dot as decimal separator
Date format: yyyy-mm-dd/ dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 00230
Language data sources: Worldatlas/Britannica//EF/Wikipedia; Demography data sources: IMF/Worldometers; Conventions data source: Wikipedia; Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal; Statistics data sources: Datareportal/WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF/Culturalatlas/Commisceoglobal/Worlddata.info
Facts and data
Economy
Imports
Imports $6.85 billion (2022). Refined Petroleum ($1.15B), Coal Briquettes ($314M), Cars ($248M), Non-fillet Frozen Fish ($229M), and Packaged Medicaments ($147M), importing mostly from China ($1.12B), South Africa ($670M), United Arab Emirates ($616M), India ($599M), and Oman ($544M).
Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of age)
• 90% have an account with a financial institution
• 20.1% have a credit card
• 15.9% have a mobile money account
• 17.2% make online purchases
Ease of doing business
It is easy to conduct business (rated 81.5 out of 100). Ranked 1st out of 48 Sub-Saharan African countries. Ranked 13th out of 190 countries worldwide (2023, World Bank).
Exports
$2.6 billion (2022). Processed Fish ($265M), Raw Sugar ($211M), Diamonds ($125M), Non-Knit Men’s Suits ($122M), and Knit T-shirts ($86.5M), exporting mostly to Zimbabwe ($288M), South Africa ($277M), France ($268M), Madagascar ($209M), and United States ($186M).
Economic freedom
‘Mostly free’ (rated 701.5 out of 100) Ranked 1st out of 47 Sub-Saharan African countries Ranked 19th worldwide out of 184 countries (2024, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).
Global Innovation Index
Ranked 1st out of 28 Sub-Saharan African countries, 57th out of 132 worldwide.
The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.
Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal
Service Imports (2018)
Service Exports (2018)
Source: OEC
Trade balance of goods from 2013 to 2023
Source: Statista
Historical Data Trade Imports
The following section uses historical trade data imports from partners of Mauritius.
Historical Data Trade Exports
The following section uses historical trade data exports from partners of Mauritius.
Source: OEC
Mauritius's Most Complex Exports
The Product Complexity Index (PCI) measures the knowledge intensity of a product by considering the knowledge intensity of its exporters.
The Top Export Opportunities for Mauritius by Relatedness
Relatedness measures the distance between a country's current exports and each product by showing only products that Mauritius is not specialized in.
Source: OEC
Mauritius's Most Specialized Products
Specialization is measured using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), an index that takes the ratio between Mauritius observed and expected exports in each product.
Source: OEC
Market Growth Imports (2018)
This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start importing that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.
Market Growth Exports (2018)
This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start exporting that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.
Source: OEC
Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP)
Source: WorldBank
T-index
Reach most of the online purchasing power
T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales. It estimates the market share of each country in relation to global e-commerce.
Try it nowMedia
Media language English, French, Indian
The media scene in Mauritius is divided in two, with a highly politicised media, including the national broadcaster, and elsewhere media outlets which can be outspoken but sometimes veer towards sensationalism, says Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
US-based NGO Freedom House says that the media regulatory agency lacks independence and disproportionately targets opposition media.
Under 2018 changes to the law, journalists can face prison sentences for content that causes “inconvenience, distress, or anxiety”.
Television is the most popular medium. State-owned Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) radio and TV generally reflect government thinking. MBC is funded by advertising and a TV licence fee.
Two media groups – Le Mauricien Ltd and La Sentinelle Ltd – dominate the press scene.
The press
L’Express – daily
Le Mauricien – daily
Mauritius Times – in English
Television
Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation – state-run, operates three main channels and digital networks
Radio
Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation – state-run, broadcasting in English, French, Indian languages and Chinese; networks include RM1, RM2, Kool FM, Taal FM, One World FM
Top FM – private
Radio One – private
Radio Plus – private
Media data source: BBC
Internet Data
Internet users
75.5% penetration, 982.5 thousands
Share of web traffic by device
68.06% mobile phones, 29.88% computers (laptops and desktops), 2.03% tablet devices, others 0.02%
Median speed of mobile Internet connection
39.04 Mbps
Median speed of fixed Internet connection
49.75 Mbps
Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 161%
Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 89.2%
Most popular web search engines
Google (93.96%), Bing (4.88%),Yahoo! (0.44%), Petal Search (0.25%), Yandex (0.18%), other (0.3%).
Most used social media
Facebook (83.08%), Pinterest (5.34%), Instagram (4.8%), Twitter (3.3%), YouTube (2.26%), Reddit (0.62%), Linkedin (0.37%), other (0.22%).
Internet data sources: Datareportal/Statcounter
Social statistics
Life expectancy
74 yrs (2022)
Current health expenditure
6.39% of GDP (2021)
Current education expenditure
86.5% of total expenditure in public institutions
Corruption perceptions Index
Mauritius scored 50 out of 100, ranked 57 out 180 countries worldwide.
CO2 emissions
3.35 metric tons per capita.
World Happiness Index
Mauritius ranked 52 out of 146 countries, with a score of 6.071.
Social statistics sources: WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF
The Data Factbook is a work in progress project. Our community is helping us to fill it up always with new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write your advices at imminent@translated.com
Language research
Languages spoken in the Mauritius
Legend
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Bhojpouri
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Chinois
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Marathi
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Français
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Créole Mauricien on Morisyen
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English
The geographical distribution of languages that you will find in the maps published in this section is a work in progress. Our community is helping us to fill it up with always new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write to imminent.factbook@translated.com
Photo credit: Shubham Beeharry, Unsplash