The Family Planning and Demographic Yearbook 2006, which has been released by the Ministry of Health Wednesday in Port Louis, the capital reveals that as at December 2006, the population of the island of Mauritius was 1, 219, 208 and that the average life span for Mauritians was 72.3 years during the period 2004-2006, that is 75.68 for females and 68.92 for men.

The report adds that as at 1st July 2006, the number of women in the reproductive age group 15-49 years of age was 336,700 and that the crude birth rate was 13.8 per 1000 population in 2006 as compared to 14.9 in 2005.

The report indicates that in 2006, infant mortality rate was 13.5 as compared to 13.2 in 2005 and that there were 87,412 current users of different family planning methods in 2006 as compared to 90,421 in 2005.

The Central Statistics Office also released its yearly Economic and Social Indicators on Wednesday morning which reveals that the number of employed persons in the island for the third quarter of 2007 stood at 507,500 and that some 45,100 persons were unemployed.

The report adds that the unemployment rate is influenced by seasonal factors. It is usually higher in the first half of the year because of school leavers joining the work market and lower in the second half with more casual jobs being available mainly in the trade sector at the end of the year.

The report also indicates that the primary sector comprising agriculture provided jobs to about 9% of the working population. Manufacturing, electricity, water and construction employed another 31% and the tertiary sector which covers trade, hotels and restaurants and transport the remaining 60%.

SR/daj/APA 26-12-2007

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