Suriname: People & Society#
| Population | 585,824 (July 2016 est.) |
|---|---|
| Nationality | noun: Surinamer(s) adjective: Surinamese |
| Ethnic groups | Hindustani (also known locally as "East Indians"; their ancestors emigrated from northern India in the latter part of the 19th century) 37%, Creole (mixed white and black) 31%, Javanese 15%, "Maroons" (their African ancestors were brought to the country in the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves and escaped to the interior) 10%, Amerindian 2%, Chinese 2%, white 1%, other 2% |
| Languages | Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese |
| Religions | Hindu 27.4%, Protestant 25.2% (predominantly Moravian), Roman Catholic 22.8%, Muslim 19.6%, indigenous beliefs 5% |
| Demographic profile | Suriname is a pluralistic society consisting primarily of Creoles (persons of mixed African and European heritage), the descendants of escaped African slaves known as Maroons, and the descendants of Indian and Javanese contract workers. The country overall is in full, post-industrial demographic transition, with a low fertility rate, a moderate mortality rate, and a rising life expectancy. However, the Maroon population of the rural interior lags behind because of lower educational attainment and contraceptive use, higher malnutrition, and significantly less access to electricity, potable water, sanitation, infrastructure, and health care. Some 350,000 people of Surinamese descent live in the Netherlands, Suriname's former colonial ruler. In the 19th century, better-educated, largely Dutch-speaking Surinamese began emigrating to the Netherlands. World War II interrupted the outflow, but it resumed after the war when Dutch labor demands grew - emigrants included all segments of the Creole population. Suriname still is strongly influenced by the Netherlands because most Surinamese have relatives living there and it is the largest supplier of development aid. Other emigration destinations include French Guiana and the United States. Suriname's immigration rules are flexible, and the country is easy to enter illegally because rainforests obscure its borders. Since the mid-1980s, Brazilians have settled in Suriname's capital, Paramaribo, or eastern Suriname, where they mine gold. This immigration is likely to slowly re-orient Suriname toward its Latin American roots. |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 25.15% (male 75,088/female 72,261) 15-24 years: 17.46% (male 52,129/female 50,141) 25-54 years: 44.36% (male 132,334/female 127,562) 55-64 years: 7.16% (male 20,564/female 21,394) 65 years and over: 5.86% (male 14,848/female 19,503) (2016 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 50.8% youth dependency ratio: 40.4% elderly dependency ratio: 10.4% potential support ratio: 9.6% (2015 est.) |
| Median age | total: 29.5 years male: 29.1 years female: 29.9 years (2016 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 1.05% (2016 est.) |
| Birth rate | 16 births/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Death rate | 6.1 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Net migration rate | 0.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Population distribution | population concentrated along the nothern coastal strip; the remainder of the country is sparsely populated |
| Urbanization | urban population: 66% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 0.78% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population | PARAMARIBO (capital) 234,000 (2014) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2016 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 155 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 25.3 deaths/1,000 live births male: 29.5 deaths/1,000 live births female: 20.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 72.2 years male: 69.8 years female: 74.8 years (2016 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 1.95 children born/woman (2016 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 47.6% (2010) |
| Health expenditures | 5.7% of GDP (2014) |
| Hospital bed density | 3.1 beds/1,000 population (2010) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 98.1% of population rural: 88.4% of population total: 94.8% of population unimproved: urban: 1.9% of population rural: 11.6% of population total: 5.2% of population (2015 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 88.4% of population rural: 61.4% of population total: 79.2% of population unimproved: urban: 11.6% of population rural: 38.6% of population total: 20.8% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 1.08% (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 3,800 (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 100 (2015 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria note: active local transmission of Zika virus by Aedes species mosquitoes has been identified in this country (as of August 2016); it poses an important risk (a large number of cases possible) among US citizens if bitten by an infective mosquito; other less common ways to get Zika are through sex, via blood transfusion, or during pregnancy, in which the pregnant woman passes Zika virus to her fetus (2016) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 26.1% (2014) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 5.8% (2010) |
| Education expenditures | NA |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 95.6% male: 96.1% female: 95% (2015 est.) |
| Child labor - children ages 5-14 | total number: 6,094 percentage: 6% (2006 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 15.3% male: 11.6% female: 21.7% (2013 est.) |