| Area Total | 163,820 sq km |
| Climate | tropical; moderated by trade winds |
| Natural Resources | timber, hydropower, fish, kaolin, shrimp, bauxite, gold, small amounts of nickel, copper, platinum, and iron ore |
| Imports | $1.293 billion (2017 est.) partners: US 30.6%, Netherlands 14.8%, Trinidad and Tobago 11.4%, China 7.6% (2017) |
| Exports | $2.028 billion (2017 est.) partners: Switzerland 38%, Hong Kong 21.9%, Belgium 10.1%, UAE 7.2%, Guyana 6.1% (2017) |
| Government | presidential republic |
| Capital | Paramaribo |
| Population | 597,900 (July 2018 est.) |
| Ethnicity | Hindustani 27.4%, Maroon 21.7%, Creole 15.7%, Javanese 13.7%, mixed 13.4%, other 7.6%, unspecified 0.6% (2012 est.) |
| Language | Dutch (official), English, Sranang Tongo, Caribbean Hindustani, Javanese |
News about Suriname
- ‘Dirty political games’: Suriname is selling its gold and timber – at the cost of tribal land rightsby Bram Ebus in Pokigron, Suriname on February 21, 2024
Communities such as the Saamaka are vocal in opposition to increased mining and logging – but has the country’s claim to fame as the most forested in the world already been fatally undermined?Photographs by Bram Ebus“Welcome to Suriname – the most forested country in the world!” reads a billboard above the entrance of Suriname’s international […]
- How rice hidden by a woman fleeing slavery in the 1700s could help her descendantsby Bram Ebus in Brokopondo on January 29, 2024
Suriname’s Saamaka Maroons still grow rice from seeds an ancestor escaping from a plantation carried in her hair. Now a gene bank seeks to widen use of the rare species to help fight the climate crisisWhen enslaved Africans escaped the Surinamese plantations overseen by Dutch colonists from the 17th to the 19th century, several women ingeniously hid rice […]
- Former Suriname dictator missing after failing to turn himself in to prisonby Staff and agencies in Paramaribo on January 12, 2024
Wife of Dési Bouterse, sentenced last month to 20 years for 1982 killings of opponents, says ‘he’s not going to turn himself in’Surinamese authorities are searching for ex-president Dési Bouterse after he failed to turn himself in to start a prison sentence for involvement in the murder of 15 political opponents in 1982, the prosecutor general’s […]
- ‘We live off the forest’: fears rise in Suriname as Mennonites look to settleby Jason Pinas in Klaaskreek, Suriname on December 15, 2023
Secretive Christian sect poised to carve big farms out of the Amazon, despite concerns of Indigenous people about the settlers’ deforestation elsewhere in Latin AmericaTempers are running high in Klaaskreek, a village 50 miles south of Suriname’s capital, Paramaribo. Local officials and residents meet weekly to pool what they know about three groups of […]
- Rich countries ‘trap’ poor nations into relying on fossil fuelsby Kaamil Ahmed on August 21, 2023
Campaigners criticise ‘new form of colonialism’, where countries in the global south are forced to invest in fossil fuel projects to repay debtsRicher countries and private lenders are trapping heavily indebted countries into reliance on fossil fuels, according to a new report.The pressure to repay debts is forcing poor nations to continue investing in […]
