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Mauritius SOCIETY AND CULTURE
Population and Demography
The estimated population of Mauritius in July 1993 was
1,106,516 with a population growth rate of 0.95 percent
for 1993.
According to the 1990 census the population was 1,065,988,
of
whom 34,292 lived on Rodrigues and 170 on outer islands.
The
country's population density, more than 537 inhabitants
per
square kilometer, is one of the highest in the world. The
majority of the island's inhabitants are young; some 58.6
percent
were under the age of twenty-nine in 1990. The capital,
Port
Louis, is the largest city, with a population of 142,645.
Other
large metropolitan areas, in descending order, are Beau
BassinRose Hill, Vacoas-Phoenix, Curepipe, and Quatre Bornes. In
1991
the population was relatively evenly divided between those
residing in rural and urban areas.
The rate of population increase grew to between 3
percent and
4 percent in the 1950s, resulting, in large part, from the
elimination of malaria, higher living standards, and
improved
health care. Worried that such high growth rates would
impede the
island's development and tax its resources, the government
and
private groups instituted extensive family planning
efforts.
Family planning services were centralized under the
administration of the Maternal and Child Health Care
Division of
the Ministry of Health in 1972, and together with the nongovernmental Action Familiale, which promoted natural
techniques
of birth control, reduced the country's birthrate
significantly.
The rate dropped to around 2 percent in the 1960s, and
fell to
1.1 percent in 1973. In the 1980s, the rate fell below 1
percent.
According to a Ministry of Health publication, the
following
methods of birth control were used in 1985: birth control
pills,
40 percent; barrier methods, 21 percent; natural methods,
16
percent; intrauterine device (IUD), 10 percent; tubal
ligation, 8
percent; Depo Provera, 5 percent. Abortion is illegal, but
a
Mauritian family planning official has estimated that
there is
one abortion for every live birth. The crude birthrate in
1991
was 20.7 births per 1,000 population, and the crude death
rate
stood at 6.6 per 1,000.
Data as of August 1994
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