Map of Suriname | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: Independence from the Netherlands was granted in 1975. Five years later the civilian government was replaced by a military regime that soon declared a socialist republic. It continued to rule through a succession of nominally civilian administrations until 1987 when international pressure finally brought about a democratic election.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 163,270 km²
Land: 161,470 km²
Comparative: slightly larger than Georgia

Land boundaries:

Coastline: 386 km

Maritime claims
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes:

Climate: tropical; moderated by trade winds

Terrain: mostly rolling hills; narrow coastal plain with swamps

Elevation

Natural resources: timber, hydropower potential, fish, shrimp, bauxite, iron ore, and small amounts of nickel, copper, platinum, gold

Land use:

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 410,016 (July 1992), growth rate 1.5% (1992)

Nationality: noun - Surinamer(s; adjective - Surinamese

Ethnic groups: Hindustani (East Indian) 37.0%, Creole (black and mixed) 31.0%, Javanese 15.3%, Bush black 10.3%, Amerindian 2.6%, Chinese 1.7%, Europeans 1.0%, other 1.1%

Languages:

Religions: Hindu 27.4%, Muslim 19.6%, Roman Catholic 22.8%, Protestant (predominantly Moravian) 25.2%, indigenous beliefs about 5%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 26 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 6 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: -5 migrants/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: mostly tropical rain forest

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 34 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 66 years male, 71 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 2.9 children born/woman (1992)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 95% (male 95%, female 95%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Suriname

Government type: republic

Capital: Paramaribo

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence:

National holiday: Independence Day, 25 November (1975)

Constitution: ratified 30 September 1987

Legal system: NA

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal at age 18
President: last held 6 September 1991 (next to be held NA May 1996); results - elected by the National Assembly - Ronald VENETIAAN (NF) 80% (645 votes), Jules WIJDENBOSCH (NDP) 14% (115 votes), Hans PRADE (DA '91) 6% (49 votes)
National Assembly: last held 25 May 1991 (next to be held NA May 1996); results - percent of vote NA; seats - (51 total) NF 30, NDP 12, DA '91 9

Executive branch:

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Assemblee Nationale)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:
Diplomatic representation:
US:

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: five horizontal bands of green (top, double width), white, red (quadruple width), white, and green (double width; there is a large yellow five-pointed star centered in the red band

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: The economy is dominated by the bauxite industry, which accounts for about 70% of export earnings and 40% of tax revenues. The economy has been in trouble since the Dutch ended development aid in 1982. A drop in world bauxite prices which started in the late 1970s and continued until late 1986 was followed by the outbreak of a guerrilla insurgency in the interior that crippled the important bauxite sector. Although the insurgency has since ebbed and the bauxite sector recovered, a military coup in December 1990 reflected continued political instability and deterred investment and economic reform. High inflation, high unemployment, widespread black market activity, and hard currency shortfalls continue to mark the economy.
GDP: exchange rate conversion - $1.4 billion, per capita $3,400; real growth rate 0% (1989 est.)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 11% of GDP; paddy rice planted on 85% of arable land: and represents 60% of total farm output; other products - bananas, palm kernels, coconuts, plantains, peanuts, beef, chicken; shrimp and forestry products of increasing importance; self-sufficient in most foods

Industries: bauxite mining, alumina and aluminum production, lumbering, food processing, fishing

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate NA; accounts for 22% of GDP

Labor force: 104,000 (1984)
Organized labor: 49,000 members of labor force

Unemployment rate: 33% (1990)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $466 million; expenditures $716 million, including capital expenditures of $123 million (1989 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $549 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.)
Commodoties: alumina, bauxite, aluminum, rice, wood and wood products, shrimp and fish, bananas
Partners:

Imports: $331 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.)
Commodoties: capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs, cotton, consumer goods
Partners: US 37%, Netherlands 15%, Netherlands Antilles 11%, Trinidad and Tobago 9%, Brazil 5%, UK 3%, other 20%

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Surinamese guilders, gulden, or florins (Sf.) per US$1 - 1.7850 (fixed rate)


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Electricity
Production: 458,000 kW capacity; 2,018 million kWh produced, 5,015 kWh per capita (1991)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: $NA, NA% of GDP

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports:

Heliports

Pipelines

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 1,200 km; most important means of transport; oceangoing vessels with drafts ranging up to 7 m can navigate many of the principal waterways

Merchant marine:
Civil air: 1 major transport aircraft

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs