Mauritius

Mauritius, an island republic in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, gained its independence from Britain in 1968 and has a population of 1.3 million. The female life expectancy is 76.7 years. It has a birth rate of 15.4 per 1,000, and the provision of midwifery services for most of the population has resulted in a decline in the infant mortality rate in recent decades, with the infant mortality rate at 14.6 per 1,000 live births. The maternal mortality rate is 24 per 100,000 live births and the neonatal mortality rate is 12 per 1,000 live births. The total fertility rate is 1.9 per woman, and 49 percent of women report using modern methods of contraception. Abortion is legal only to save the life of the mother.

Initially, the island was settled by Arab and Malay traders, the Dutch, and later the French. The British brought a plantation society, established to develop the local sugar industry. The first hospital on the island was built by the British for the Europeans, and slaves were forced to take care of their own health care. Even after the abolition of slavery, the medical care in Mauritius remained polarized for the different groups on the island, and there was no universal health care until the 1950s, when the entire population received access to clean drinking water. In 1972, there were 27 doctors working in Mauritius, and by 1987 there were 80 doctors.

In addition, the improvements in the educational system in Mauritius have seen large advances in female education, which has helped many girls gain careers; however, many women still work in low-paid and unskilled jobs. To try to remedy this, the Sex Discrimination Act was passed in 2003 to allow the government to investigate sex discrimination and sexual harassment at work. The unit established by the government has also helped educate employers about equal opportunities.

Many people in Mauritius still live with their extended families, or in close proximity, although there is now a substantial Mauritian diaspora in South Africa, Australia, and elsewhere. These kinship ties have helped ensure that the crude divorce rate in the country is one of the lowest in the world, at 0.97 divorces per 1,000 marriages (2003)—even though this is double the rate several decades earlier. In addition, the Population Control Evaluation Programme has done much work on family planning education.

Save the Children ranks Mauritius 14th on its Mothers' Index, 19th on its Women's Index, and 16th on its Children's Index among 66 Tier II or less developed countries.