Mauritians

Mauritians (singular Mauritian; French: Mauricien; Creole: Morisien) are nationals of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Given its geographic location and colonial past, the people of Mauritius are diverse in ethnicity, culture, language and faith. Indo-Mauritians make up the bulk of the population with significant Creole, Sino-Mauritian and Franco-Mauritian minorities. The population is further divided into linguistic and religious categories. Mauritians having their roots from the Bhojpuri and Hindustani speaking regions of India account for around half the total population with significant Indo-Mauritian minorities from the Tamil, Telugu and Marathi speaking regions of the subcontinent. Creole Mauritians of African descent trace their roots to East Africa and Madagascar, thus with distant Austronesian ancestry, Chinese Mauritians have mostly Cantonese and Hakka ancestries while White Mauritians are mostly from France. It is the only country in Africa where Hinduism is the most practised religion with significant Christian and Muslim minorities. Since 1995, it is no longer possible to acquire Mauritian citizenship, automatically by birth, if one was born in Mauritius of foreign parents. A person born outside Mauritius is a citizen of Mauritius under section 20(3) and 23 of the Constitution if either of their parents is a citizen of Mauritius by birth. Thus, children born to Mauritians who were themselves born abroad are denied automatic citizenship.