Overview
Mauritius is an independent sovereign state located in Africa, specifically within the Eastern Africa subregion. It covers approximately 2,040 km² and is home to an estimated 1,243,741 people. The country has coastline along international waters, which has shaped its trade routes, climate, cuisine, and cultural exchanges with the rest of the world. Its capital is Port Louis, which serves as the political and (in most cases) economic centre of the country, hosting the seat of government and the principal international airport.
This profile pulls together the structured facts that most readers want at a glance — capital, currency, languages, borders — and links onward to the maps and neighbouring countries you are likely to need next. Every figure on this page is rendered server-side from a single dataset, so what you see here matches the regional indexes, statistics rankings, and continental hubs elsewhere on MapVista.
For travellers, students, journalists, and the merely curious, the goal is simple: a single readable page per country that answers the questions you actually asked, without redirecting you to a sign-up screen or a paywall. Citizens of Mauritius are commonly described as Mauritian, a demonym you will encounter in news coverage and academic writing alike.
Geography & borders
Mauritius is a small island or microstate, covering approximately 2,040 km² of land in Africa (specifically the Eastern Africa subregion). The country has coastline along international waters, which has shaped its trade routes, climate, and cultural exchanges with the rest of the world. Its approximate geographic centre lies at 20.28° S, 57.55° E, placing it in the southern hemisphere on a line with several other Eastern Africa nations. Mauritius has no land borders and is reached entirely by sea or air, a status it shares with the world's other island nations and isolated peninsulas.
No land borders are recorded — this is typical of island nations, archipelagos, and microstates that lack land neighbours, with the open ocean serving as the country's only frontier.
Live map
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. · Open in OpenStreetMap · Open in Google Maps
People, demographics & density
With an estimated 1,243,741 residents, Mauritius is a small population. That works out to roughly 609.7 people per square kilometre, one of the higher national densities on the planet — typical of densely-urbanised states with limited habitable land. The capital, Port Louis, anchors the country's political and often economic life and is usually the first city most international visitors encounter. Citizens of Mauritius are commonly described as Mauritian.
Compared with the global mean of roughly 60 people per square kilometre, Mauritius's figure of 609.7 people / km² places it among the very densest sovereign states on Earth, alongside the city-states of Asia and Europe.
Languages, currency & culture
Culturally, English, French, and Mauritian Creole are recognised as official or co-official languages in Mauritius, while Mauritian rupee (MUR) is the official currency. Like every country in the catalogue, the linguistic situation on the ground is often more layered than the official picture, with regional languages, immigrant communities, and minority tongues woven through everyday life.
Official and recognised languages
- EnglishISO 639 code: eng
- FrenchISO 639 code: fra
- Mauritian CreoleISO 639 code: mfe
Official currencies
- Mauritian rupeeISO 4217: MUR · ₨
Language and currency data are drawn from open sources and reflect the official position rather than the full sociolinguistic picture on the ground. Many countries recognise minority and regional languages in addition to the official ones listed here, and some use multiple currencies in practice — particularly in border regions and tourist economies.
Practical information
Mauritius operates on a single time zone, UTC+04:00, and uses the country-code top-level domain .mu online. Vehicles drive on the left-hand side of the road. Mauritius is a recognised member state of the United Nations.
- Time zonesUTC+04:00
- Top-level domain.mu
- Driving sideLeft
- UN memberYes
- LandlockedNo
- IndependentYes
- DemonymMauritian
Maps & downloads
The flag image above is available in both raster and vector format. For a full-resolution download, right-click and save the linked file. Map links open in your preferred mapping provider so you can zoom into specific regions or plan a route. For deeper terrain and elevation data, our geographic resource library collects the best free atlases.
About this profile
This page is one of 250 country profiles on MapVista. The structured facts are sourced from open datasets that aggregate official records — see our methodology for the full list of sources and how we handle disputes, succession, and edge cases. The narrative paragraphs are written to give context to the numbers, but the figures themselves are not invented; if a value is missing it is shown as a dash rather than a guess.
If you spot an out-of-date figure or a misclassification, please reach us via the contact page. We refresh the underlying dataset regularly and corrections are applied at the next rebuild.