 In the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2024 Democracy Index, Mauritius is classified as a "flawed democracy". While it is one of Africa's more stable democracies, with strong political institutions, the index reveals some weaknesses including a decline in the "functioning of government" category, indicating issues with transparency, accountability, and the influence of powerful interest groups. Despite these concerns, Mauritius generally performs well in the index compared to other African nations. Today Mauritius, with its population of 1.269 million (2025), is seen as an ideal tourist attraction as well as having growing financial and industrial sectors. However this rise in economic growth has seen many turn to industrialisation for employment creating family strains, addictions and increases in crime. UNICEF report, "child abuse and violence against women, sexual exploitation, increasing drug and alcohol dependency among young people and the exclusion of children with disabilities all are cause of concern." Despite the overall wealth, for many living in Mauritius life is one of poverty, often going to bed hungry without having basic needs met particularly in the neglected rural regions of Mauritius and on the island of Rodrigues in particular where 40% of the population lives below the poverty level. However, extreme poverty across the islands is rare, running at around 1% with an economy that mainly depends on tourism and exports of textiles to Europe and the United States. Mauritius is in 73rd place out of 193 countries and territories in 2025 when ranked in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to knowledge and the living standards of a country.
Although best known for its tropical locale, tourists can take time to travel to the mountainous interior of the main island that includes the Black River Gorges National Park, the largest protected forest of Mauritius, where you can see many endangered species of plants and animals and get a breathtaking view of Alexandra waterfalls (above) as you amble through the hiking trails. Other lesser known facts about the island include the fact that Mauritius was the only home to the now extinct Dodo and, in typical European style, within eighty years of Europeans discovering the island and the Dodo, it had become extinct being unable to fly or walk away from the colonisers with the required haste to maintain its safety.
Port Louis Profile
 Facts, information and a video about Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, together with a brief history of the area.
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