Population

Mauritius has a young multiracial population, and has one of the highest densities of population in the world - over 570 people per sq km. It is these three important features which have been at the root of the concern about the island’s social, economic and political future. Before the abolition of slavery in Mauritius in 1835, the population of Mauritius was composed mainly of slaves from Africa and Madagascar numbering between 80,000 to 100,000 in the 1830s. The period between 1835 to 1865 represents a major turning point in the population history of Mauritius. The recruitment of indentured labour from India between that period had a major impact on the population.

The Indian population outnumbered the freed slaves by 2 to 1 in 1860. A number of Chinese and Indian merchants continued to come and settle in Mauritius.. So if one is to talk about an economic elite in Mauritius today, one would refer mainly to the descendants of the European settlers, and those of the Chinese and Indian merchants. The immigration of Indian labourers ceased to be an important factor in high population growth after 1880.

The average annual rate of increase amounted to less than half of one per cent per annum during each inter—censal interval from 1881 to 1944. This low rate of growth can be explained in terms high mortality rates, mainly due to malaria, poor medical care and bad hygiene.

The once labour—starved economy of the mid—l9th Century Mauritius became a labour-surplus economy after the Second World War mainly due to the dramaticrise in population during the post-war period. The post—war period marks an entirely new phase in the demographic trends of Mauritius. The annual rate of population growth shot up to an average of 2.2% between the census dates of 1944 and 1952. The most important single factor responsible for this rise was the eradication of malaria. The effect was so great that the death—rate fell by 32% in one year; and the birth rate rose during this period.

As in many other parts of the world, Mauritius also experienced the post-war baby boom. The continuing high birth rates in the 1950s and early 1960s and very low death rates combined with high unemployment and low food production led leading academics such as Meade (1961, 1961, 1967) and Titmuss (1961) to talk about a population explosion in Maunitius unless drastic steps were taken immediately.. The two independent organisations: Maunitius Family Planning Association and Action Familiale, set up in the 1960a have contributed to the drastic fall in the birth rates from 39.3 per thousand in 1960 to 26.8 per thousand in 1970

. Effective family planning combined with a significant shift towards a nuclear family structure brought down birth rates to annual average of 21 during the 1980s. Population growth has been well under an annual average of 1.8% during the 1970s and about 1% during the 1980s, which is one of the lowest in the Third World. But the World Bank (1983, P27) notes that “a continued growth rate of 1.5% pa is quite unacceptable for Maunitius, implying as it does a doubling of the population over the next 46 years”. If we were to talk of a population problem in Maunitius it is the age structure and the fertility rates which are the exacerbating factors.

Mauritius has a very young population. Although the declining rate of ppopulation growth during the last two decades had an important impact on the age structure of the population, nearly one third of the population are under 15, about half under 24 and two-thirds under 34. Although the proportion of the population under 15 declined from 45.3% in 1962 to 29.7% in 1990, there was a corresponding increase in the proportion of the 15-34 age group which rose from 28.3% in 1962 to about 37.8% in 1990.

This population trend is responsible for the ever increasing labour force in the island and in addition, since nearly 38% of the population is in the 15-34 age group, here fertility rates are the highest, the annual growth rate of the population will continue to fluctuate up until the end of the century. As consolation, there has been a remarkable change in the family structure, ram a large extended family to a small nuclear family, during the past 15 ears. This phenomenon would help in reducing the rate of population growth ecause young couples have fewer children now. However, population growth ould remain a very important constraint on economic development in Maunitius. Although the problem of unemployment has been resolved with the expansion of he EPZ sector, Maunitius is rapidly becoming an overcrowded island. The smallness of the island’s land area has already created a severe shortage of land for building purposes.

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