Mauritians are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Majorities of Mauritians are of Indian descendants while the other minorities are from Africans, Chinese and Europeans descendants.
There is also a large number of foreign expatriates living in Mauritius, about 8000 are from France, 2000 from South Africa and others from all over the world.
The island of Mauritius with its multi-ethnic society has a population of approximately 1.3 million.
Mauritius has a stable and racial harmony where all the ethnic groups present live in peace and where all the ancestral cultures have been preserved for the future generation.
Mauritius is religiously diverse consisting of 49% of Hindus, followed by Christians (33%), Muslims (17%), and Buddhists (1%).
The people of Indian descent (Indo-Mauritian) follow mostly Hinduism and Islam.
The Franco-Mauritians, Christians and Sino-Mauritians follow Christianity.
A minority of Sino-Mauritians also follow Buddhism and other Chinese-related religions.
Language spoken in Mauritius
Mauritius is a mixture of different ethnic groups, British and French colonials, African slaves, Malagasy and Indian labourers, and Chinese business traders that have come together on the island.
The most prominent languages you’ll hear in Mauritius are Mauritian Creole, French and English.
The Mauritian Creole is considered the mother-tongue and is spoken by around 90% of the population. Based on French language, is a cultural heritage which emerges from past French colonisation of the island from 1715 to 1810. During the 19th century, Mauritian Creole enriched itself from terms derived from Hindi, used by Indian indentured laborers, from English language and also from Chinese language.
French is the second most popular language, taught in school along with English, as from the pre-primary level. Written media are basically in French whereas electronic media are split into French, English and Creole languages.
English is the official language of Mauritius, due to the British colonization from 1810 to 1968, and is used in businesses, Government and all official bureaucratic matters.
Other languages that you will hear are Hindi, Bhojpuri, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Hakka, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese and Italian.
Most Mauritians are bi-lingual if not tri-lingual therefore for travellers, this means it’s easy to communicate when on the island.
Speak Creole
Hello/Good Morning - Bonzour
Good evening - Bonswar
How are you? - Ki manier?
Please- Silvouple
No problem - Pena Problem
What are you doing? - Ki to pe fer
What is this? - Ki été sa
How much? – Komie sa
Everything is okay - Tou Korek
Very good - Mari bon
I love you – Mo contan twa
Sorry - Sori
Thank you – Mersi
I don’t understand – Mo pa compran