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The main articles are:
Population
Migration
2021: Net outflow over 4 years
Economy
GDP $11015 per person
Unemployment
2020: Unemployment rate - 21%
R&D
2020: R&D costs - $39M
Mauritius IT Market
2022: More than 1 start-up
Power
Electrification
Agriculture
2019: High levels of pesticide use in agriculture
Consumption
Meat
2023: Poultry meat is the most consumed type of meat
Cereals
2019: Average rice consumption: 54.3 kg per person per year
Residence permit
2020: Mauritius eases conditions for foreign investors and residents
To increase the appeal of Mauritius as the world's leading destination for living and obtaining a residence permit, the following changes were made to the local Immigration Act in August 2020:
RESIDENCE PERMIT: 1. Investment in residential real estate has been reduced to USD 375,000 (instead of USD 500,000).
2. The validity period of permanent residence has been extended to 20 years (earlier than 10 years), and the validity period of the work permit is from 3 to 10 years. The work permit applies to both investors and individual entrepreneurs.
3. Parents of the resident can also receive a residence permit.
4. To preserve the residence permit in Mauritius, you need to live at least 183 days a year.
Taxes: 1. Taxes on personal income - 15% (income from a source in Mauritius or on income that is transferred to the island).
2. An individual is not subject to tax on capital gains, inheritance, wealth, gift and real estate, dividends.
3. As a measure to support the economy in a pandemic, the government introduced the so-called "solidarity tax" - 25% on income exceeding about USD 73,500. The solidarity tax has its own nuances, but experts expect that it will only be a temporary measure to support the economy.
Education
2019: Percentage of people who can read
Health care
Maternity leave
inCrime
Prisons
2022: Minimum age for children to be jailed
2018: Number of prisoners per 100 thousand citizens
History
2024: Transfer of sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius with the preservation of the US and British base
In October 2024, Britain and Mauritius signed an agreement according to which the former colony will gain control over islands in the Indian Ocean. In turn, London and Washington will retain the right to use the strategically important British-American military base Diego Garcia. This facility is key to ensuring the activities of US strategic aviation in the Indo-Pacific region.
The problem of sovereignty of the islands arose quite a long time ago. Britain, which had controlled the region since 1814, took the Chagos archipelago from Mauritius in 1965, which gained independence three years later.
The transfer of territories was one of the conditions for gaining independence. In the early 1970s, the British decided to lease the islands to the United States. In this regard, almost 2,000 local residents had to be evicted to make way for the future Diego Garcia air base.
Moreover, the deportation process was organized extremely "democratically." Usually in such cases, beneficiaries try to provide local at least some social guarantees in exchange for the occupied territory so as not to lose face. In this case, everything was done in the best traditions of the East India Trading Company: the Americans simply rented the islands, and the British themselves were eliminated under the pretext of independence granted.
The incident vividly describes the words of the telegram of the representative of the British delegation to the UN, Sir Paul Gore-Booth, who wrote:
We certainly have to be very tough on the issue of resettlement. The purpose of this event was to get a few stones that would remain ours; there will be no indigenous population other than gulls that do not yet have their own UN Committee.
According to the results of the agreement, the archipelago will continue to fulfill the main function assigned to it by the key airbase of the Anglo-Saxons in the region.