Suriname

Facts

Population:  433,998 (July 2001 est.)
Age structure:  0-14 years:  31.62% (male 70,314; female 66,924) 15-64 years:  62.71% (male 138,969; female 133,193) 65 years and over:  5.67% (male 11,194; female 13,404) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate:  0.6% (2001 est.)
Birth rate:  20.53 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate:  5.68 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate:  -8.87 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio:  at birth:  1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years:  1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years:  1.04 male(s)/female 65 years and over:  0.84 male(s)/female total population:  1.03 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate:  24.27 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:  total population:  71.63 years male:  68.97 years female:  74.42 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate:  2.47 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:  1.26% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:  3,000 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:  210 (1999 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%
Religions:  Hindu 27.4%, Muslim 19.6%, Roman Catholic 22.8%, Protestant 25.2% (predominantly Moravian), 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:  definition:  age 15 and over can read and write total population:  93% male:  95% female:  91% (1995 est.)
GDP:  purchasing power parity - $1.48 billion (1999 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:  -1% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita:  purchasing power parity - $3,400 (1999 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:  agriculture:  13% industry:  22% services:  65% (1998 est.)
Population below poverty line:  NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:  lowest 10%:  NA% highest 10%:  NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):  78% (2000 est.)
Labor force:  100,000
Labor force - by occupation:  agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate:  20% (1997)
Budget:  revenues:  $393 million expenditures:  $403 million, including capital expenditures of $34 million (1997 est.)
Industries:  bauxite and gold mining, alumina production, lumbering, food processing, fishing
Industrial production growth rate:  6.5% (1994 est.)
Electricity - production:  1.937 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:  fossil fuel:  25.92% hydro:  74.08% nuclear:  0% other:  0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption:  1.801 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports:  0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports:  0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products:  paddy rice, bananas, palm kernels, coconuts, plantains, peanuts; beef, chickens; forest products; shrimp
Exports:  $443 million (f.o.b., 1999)
Exports - commodities:  alumina, crude oil, lumber, shrimp and fish, rice, bananas
Exports - partners:  US 23%, Norway 19%, Netherlands 11%, France, Japan, UK (1999)
Imports:  $525 million (f.o.b., 1999)
Imports - commodities:  capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs, cotton, consumer goods
Imports - partners:  US 35%, Netherlands 15%, Trinidad and Tobago 12%, Japan, UK, Brazil (1999)
Debt - external:  $512 million (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:  Netherlands provided $37 million for project and program assistance, European Development Fund $4 million, Belgium $2 million (1998)
Currency:  Surinamese guilder (SRG)
Currency code:  SRG
Exchange rates:  Surinamese guilders per US dollar - 2,178.50 (December 2000), 987.50 (December 1999), 401.00 (December 1998), 401.00 (December 1997), 401.26 (December 1996) note:  beginning in July 1994, the central bank midpoint exchange rate was unified and became market determined; during 1998, the exchange rate splintered into four distinct rates; in January 1999 the government floated the guilder, but subsequently fixed it when the black-market rate plunged; the government currently allows trading within a band of SRG 500 around the official rate
Fiscal year:  calendar year

Statistics: CIA World Factbook.

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