"text":"First explored by the Spaniards in the 16th century and then settled by the English in the mid-17th century, Suriname became a Dutch colony in 1667. With the abolition of African slavery in 1863, workers were brought in from India and Java. The Netherlands granted the colony independence in 1975. Five years later the civilian government was replaced by a military regime that soon declared Suriname a socialist republic. It continued to exert control through a succession of nominally civilian administrations until 1987, when international pressure finally forced a democratic election. In 1990, the military overthrew the civilian leadership, but a democratically elected government - a four-party coalition - returned to power in 1991. The coalition expanded to eight parties in 2005 and ruled until August 2010, when voters returned former military leader Desire BOUTERSE and his opposition coalition to power. President BOUTERSE was reelected unopposed in 2015."
}
},
"Geography":{
"Location":{
"text":"Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between French Guiana and Guyana"
"text":"population concentrated along the nothern coastal strip; the remainder of the country is sparsely populated"
},
"Natural hazards":{
"text":"flooding"
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"smallest independent country on South American continent; mostly tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora and fauna that, for the most part, is increasingly threatened by new development; relatively small population, mostly along the coast"
"text":"Hindustani (also known locally as \"East Indians\"; their ancestors emigrated from northern India in the latter part of the 19th century) 27.4%, Maroon (their African ancestors were brought to the country in the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves and escaped to the interior) 21.7%, Creole (mixed White and Black) 15.7%, Javanese 13.7%, mixed 13.4%, other 7.6%, unspecified 0.6% (2012 est.)"
"text":"Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is the native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese"
"text":"<br>Het Wereld Feitenboek, een omnisbare bron van informatie. (Dutch)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information. (English)"
"text":"<p>Suriname is a pluralistic society consisting primarily of Creoles (persons of mixed African and European heritage), the descendants of escaped African slaves known as Maroons, and the descendants of Indian and Javanese (Indonesian) contract workers. The country overall is in full, post-industrial demographic transition, with a low fertility rate, a moderate mortality rate, and a rising life expectancy. However, the Maroon population of the rural interior lags behind because of lower educational attainment and contraceptive use, higher malnutrition, and significantly less access to electricity, potable water, sanitation, infrastructure, and health care.</p><p>Some 350,000 people of Surinamese descent live in the Netherlands, Suriname's former colonial ruler. In the 19th century, better-educated, largely Dutch-speaking Surinamese began emigrating to the Netherlands. World War II interrupted the outflow, but it resumed after the war when Dutch labor demands grew - emigrants included all segments of the Creole population. Suriname still is strongly influenced by the Netherlands because most Surinamese have relatives living there and it is the largest supplier of development aid. Other emigration destinations include French Guiana and the United States. Suriname's immigration rules are flexible, and the country is easy to enter illegally because rainforests obscure its borders. Since the mid-1980s, Brazilians have settled in Suriname's capital, Paramaribo, or eastern Suriname, where they mine gold. This immigration is likely to slowly re-orient Suriname toward its Latin American roots.</p>"
"text":"previous 1975; latest ratified 30 September 1987, effective 30 October 1987"
},
"amendments":{
"text":"proposed by the National Assembly; passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote of the total membership; amended 1992"
}
},
"Legal system":{
"text":"civil law system influenced by Dutch civil law; note - a new criminal code was enacted in 2017"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction"
},
"Citizenship":{
"citizenship by birth":{
"text":"no"
},
"citizenship by descent only":{
"text":"at least one parent must be a citizen of Suriname"
},
"dual citizenship recognized":{
"text":"no"
},
"residency requirement for naturalization":{
"text":"5 years"
}
},
"Suffrage":{
"text":"18 years of age; universal"
},
"Executive branch":{
"chief of state":{
"text":"President Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI (since 16 July 2020); Vice President Ronnie BRUNSWIJK (since 16 July 2020); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government"
},
"head of government":{
"text":"President Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI (since 16 July 2020); Vice President Ronnie BRUNSWIJK (since 16 July 2020)"
},
"cabinet":{
"text":"Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"president and vice president indirectly elected by the National Assembly; president and vice president serve a 5-year term (no term limits); election last held on 13 July 2020 (next to be held in May 2025)"
},
"election results":{
"text":"Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI elected president unopposed; National Assembly vote - NA"
"text":"unicameral National Assembly or Nationale Assemblee (51 seats; members directly elected in 10 multi-seat constituencies by party-list proportional representation vote using the D'Hondt method to serve 5-year terms)"
},
"elections":{
"text":"last held on 25 May 2020 (next to be held in May 2025)"
},
"election results":{
"text":"percent of vote by party - VHP 41.1%, NDP 29.4%, ABOP 17.6%, NPS 7.8%, other 3.9%; seats by party - VHP 21, NDP 15, ABOP 9, NPS 4, other 2; composition - men 35, women 16, percent of women 31.4%"
"text":"High Court of Justice of Suriname (consists of the court president, vice president, and 4 judges); note - appeals beyond the High Court are referred to the Caribbean Court of Justice; human rights violations can be appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with judgments issued by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"court judges appointed by the national president in consultation with the National Assembly, the State Advisory Council, and the Order of Private Attorneys; judges serve for life"
"text":"Alternative Combination or A-Com (coalition includes ABOP, KTPI, Party for Democracy and Development)<br>Brotherhood and Unity in Politics or BEP [Ronnie ASABINA]<br>Democratic Alternative '91 or DA91 [Angelique DEL CASTILLO]<br>General Liberation and Development Party or ABOP [Ronnie BRUNSWIJK}<br>National Democratic Party or NDP [Desire Delano BOUTERSE]<br>National Party of Suriname or NPS [Gregory RUSLAND]<br>Party for Democracy and Development in Unity or DOE [Carl BREEVELD]<br>Party for National Unity and Solidarity or KTPI [Willy SOEMITA]<br>People's Alliance (Pertjaja Luhur) or PL [Paul SOMOHARDJO]<br>Progressive Workers' and Farmers' Union or PALU [Jim HOK]<br>Progressive Reform Party or VHP [Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI]<br>Reform and Renewal Movement or HVB [Raymond SAPOEN]<br>Surinamese Labor Party or SPA [Guno CASTELEN]"
"text":"five horizontal bands of green (top, double width), white, red (quadruple width), white, and green (double width); a large, yellow, five-pointed star is centered in the red band; red stands for progress and love, green symbolizes hope and fertility, white signifies peace, justice, and freedom; the star represents the unity of all ethnic groups; from its yellow light the nation draws strength to bear sacrifices patiently while working toward a golden future"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> adopted 1959; originally adapted from a Sunday school song written in 1893 and contains lyrics in both Dutch and Sranang Tongo"
"text":"<p>Suriname’s economy is dominated by the mining industry, with exports of oil and gold accounting for approximately 85% of exports and 27% of government revenues. This makes the economy highly vulnerable to mineral price volatility. The worldwide drop in international commodity prices and the cessation of alumina mining in Suriname significantly reduced government revenue and national income during the past few years. In November 2015, a major US aluminum company discontinued its mining activities in Suriname after 99 years of operation. Public sector revenues fell, together with exports, international reserves, employment, and private sector investment.</p><p></p><p>Economic growth declined annually from just under 5% in 2012 to -10.4% in 2016. In January 2011, the government devalued the currency by 20% and raised taxes to reduce the budget deficit. Suriname began instituting macro adjustments between September 2015 and 2016; these included another 20% currency devaluation in November 2015 and foreign currency interventions by the Central Bank until March 2016, after which time the Bank allowed the Surinamese dollar (SRD) to float. By December 2016, the SRD had lost 46% of its value against the dollar. Depreciation of the Surinamese dollar and increases in tariffs on electricity caused domestic prices in Suriname to rise 22.0% year-over-year by December 2017.</p><p></p><p>Suriname's economic prospects for the medium-term will depend on its commitment to responsible monetary and fiscal policies and on the introduction of structural reforms to liberalize markets and promote competition. The government's over-reliance on revenue from the extractive sector colors Suriname's economic outlook. Following two years of recession, the Fitch Credit Bureau reported a positive growth of 1.2% in 2017 and the World Bank predicted 2.2% growth in 2018. Inflation declined to 9%, down from 55% in 2016 , and increased gold production helped lift exports. Yet continued budget imbalances and a heavy debt and interest burden resulted in a debt-to-GDP ratio of 83% in September 2017. Purchasing power has fallen rapidly due to the devalued local currency. The government has announced its intention to pass legislation to introduce a new value-added tax in 2018. Without this and other measures to strengthen the country’s fiscal position, the government may face liquidity pressures.</p>"
"text":"smallest nation in South America with low population and client base; state-owned fixed-line tele-density rates and broadband services below regional average for Latin America and Caribbean; operator building out fiber network; mobile penetration is above regional average; fixed-line effective along the coastline yet poor in the interior; competition in the mobile sector; launch of 5G in Paramaribo; importer of broadcasting equipment from USA (2020)"
"text":"fixed-line nearly 18 per 100 and mobile-cellular teledensity over 153 telephones per 100 persons; microwave radio relay network is in place (2020)"
"text":"country code - 597; landing point for the SG-SCS submarine cable linking South America with the Caribbean; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2019)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments"
"text":"the Suriname Army has a limited inventory comprised of a mix of older, foreign-supplied equipment; since 2010, Suriname has received small quantities of military hardware from several countries, including the US (2021)"
"text":"<p>as of 2021, a key mission of the National Leger was assisting the Suriname police as part of the government’s overall efforts to secure the country’s borders and combat crime, particularly narco-trafficking, including joint military and police patrols, as well as joint special security teams</p>"
"text":"<p>area claimed by French Guiana between Riviere Litani and Riviere Marouini (both headwaters of the Lawa); Suriname claims a triangle of land between the New and Kutari/Koetari rivers in a historic dispute over the headwaters of the Courantyne; Guyana seeks UN Convention on the Law of the Sea arbitration to resolve the longstanding dispute with Suriname over the axis of the territorial sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters</p>"
