Page last updated on February 28, 2018

Population:
591,919 (July 2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 172
[see also: Population country ranks ]

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) 27.4%, "Maroon" (their African ancestors were brought to the country in the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves and escaped to the interior) 21.7%, Creole (mixed white and black) 15.7%, Javanese 13.7%, mixed 13.4%, other 7.6%, unspecified 0.6% (2012 est.)

Languages:
Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is the native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese

Religions:
Protestant 23.6% (includes Evangelical 11.2%, Moravian 11.2%, Reformed .7%, Lutheran .5%), Hindu 22.3%, Roman Catholic 21.6%, Muslim 13.8%, other Christian 3.2%, Winti 1.8%, Jehovah's Witness 1.2%, other 1.7%, none 7.5%, unspecified 3.2% (2012 est.)

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 (Indonesian) 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: 24.62% (male 74,247/female 71,456)
[see also: Age structure - 0-14 years country ranks ]
15-24 years: 17.44% (male 52,599/female 50,618)
[see also: Age structure - 15-24 years country ranks ]
25-54 years: 44.4% (male 133,835/female 128,980)
[see also: Age structure - 25-54 years country ranks ]
55-64 years: 7.54% (male 21,940/female 22,697)
[see also: Age structure - 55-64 years country ranks ]
65 years and over: 6.01% (male 15,394/female 20,153) (2017 est.)

NOTE: 1) The information regarding Suriname on this page is re-published from the 2018 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Suriname People 2018 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Suriname People 2018 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
  a) The assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
  b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order

---

• Main Index
• 2018 Index
• Country Ranks
• Definitions
• Suriname Index 2018
• Suriname Main Index
• Introduction
• History
• Geography
  Maps
• People
  Religion
• Government
  Gov. Leaders   Flags
• Economy
• Energy
• Communications
• Transportation
  Airport Codes
• Military
• Transnational Issues
• Photos
• Advertise Here
• Feedback

---