Population and Demographics

Suriname's population of over 435,000 is made up of several distinct ethnic groups:

• East Indians (known locally as Hindoestanen) form the largest group at 37% of the population. They are descendants of nineteenth-century contract workers from India. They are from the Indian states of Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, in Northern India, along the Nepalese border.
• The Creoles form about 31% of the population. They are the descendants of West African slaves, some mixed with Dutch, other whites, Sephardi Jews and other ethnic groups.
• The Javanese ('imported' as contract workers from the former Dutch East Indies) make up 15%.
• Maroons (descendants of escaped West African slaves) make up 10% and are divided into five main groups: Aucans, Kwinti, Matawi, Paramaccans and Saramaccans.
• Amerindians form 3% of the population (some say as low as 1%), the main groups being the Akuriyo, Arawak, Carib/Kaliña, Trío and Wayana.
• Chinese are mainly descendants of the earliest nineteenth-century contract workers.
• Boeroes (derived from boer, the Dutch word for farmer) are descendants of Dutch nineteenth-century immigrant farmers.
• Jews, both Sephardic and East European.

Because of the great number of ethnic groups in the country, there is no one main religion. Christianity, both in the form of Roman Catholicism and variations of Protestantism, is dominant among Creoles and Maroons. Most of the Hindustani are Hindu, but they also practice Islam and Christianity. The Javanese also practice both Islam and Christianity. Despite the diversity, the makeup of Suriname's population is very similar to that of neighbouring Guyana, with the exception of the Indonesian population (which Guyana lacks).

The vast majority of people (about 90%) live in Paramaribo or on the coast. There is also a significant Surinamese population in the Netherlands. In 2005 there were 328,300 Surinamese people living in the Netherlands, which is about 2% of the total population of the Netherlands.

Facts and Figures

• Population: 439,117
• Age Structure:
  • 0-14 years: 29% (male 65,412/female 62,069)
  • 15-64 years: 64.7% (male 145,913/female 138,076)
  • 65 years and over: 6.3% (male 12,223/female 15,424)
• Median Age:
  • Total: 26.5 years
  • Male: 26 years
  • Female: 26.9 years
• Population Growth Rate: 0.2%
  • Birth Rate: 18.02 births/1,000 population
  • Death Rate: 7.27 deaths/1,000 population
  • Net Migration Rate: -8.76 migrant(s)/1,000 population
• Sex Ratio:
  • At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
  • Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
  • 15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
  • Total population: 1.04 male(s)/female
• Infant Mortality Rate:
  • Total: 23.02 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Male: 26.89 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Female: 18.95 deaths/1,000 live births
• Life Expectancy at Birth:
  • Total population: 69.01 years
  • Male: 66.66 years
  • Female: 71.47 years
• Total Fertility Rate: 2.32 children born/woman
• HIV/AIDS:
  • Adult prevalence rate: 1.7%
  • People living with HIV/AIDS: 5,200
• Ethnic Groups:
  • Hindustani 37%
  • Creole (mixed white and black) 31%
  • Javanese 15%
  • Maroons 10%
  • Amerindian 2%
  • Chinese 2%
  • White 1%
  • Other 2%
• Religions:
  • Hindu 27.4%
  • Protestant 25.2% (predominantly Moravian)
  • Roman Catholic 22.8%
  • Muslim 19.6%
  • Indigenous beliefs 5%
• 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)
  • Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi)
  • Javanese
• Literacy:
  • Total population: 88%
  • Male: 92.3%
  • Female: 84.1%