Surinamese people are people who identify with the country of
Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Surinamese, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''Surinamese''.
Suriname is a multiethnic and multilingual society, home to people of various
ethnic
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
,
racial
Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...
,
religious
Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...
, and
national origins, with the majority of the population made up of
Old World immigrants and their descendants. As a result, the Surinamese do not equate their
nationality
Nationality is the legal status of belonging to a particular nation, defined as a group of people organized in one country, under one legal jurisdiction, or as a group of people who are united on the basis of culture.
In international law, n ...
with
ethnicity
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...
, but with
citizenship
Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state.
Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...
and allegiance to Suriname. Aside from the
indigenous population, nearly all Surinamese or their ancestors arrived since the
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (), also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which Seamanship, seafarers fro ...
and establishment of the colony of
Surinam, primarily from
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
,
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
and
Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
.
Ethnic groups
The population of Suriname is made up of various distinguishable
ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
s:
*
Indigenous Surinamese, the original inhabitants of Suriname, form 3.8% of the population. The main groups are the
Akurio,
Arawak,
Kalina (Caribs),
Tiriyó and
Wayana.
*
Afro-Surinamese form about 37% of the population, and are usually divided into two groups:
** The
Creoles (15.7%). These are descendants of enslaved Africans who also have some admixture from the Northern European (mostly Dutch), Spanish, Portuguese and Jewish colonists.
** The
Maroons (21.7%). These are descendants of enslaved Africans who managed to escape and set up a living in the Amazon jungle. The two main Maroon tribes are the
Aukan and
Saramaccans. Other smaller tribes include the
Aluku,
Paramaccan,
Kwinti and
Matawai tribe.
*
Asian Surinamese form about 43% of the population, and are divided into multiple groups:
**
Indo-Surinamese
Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese, or Hindustani Surinamese are nationals of Suriname who trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent. Their ancestors were indentured labourers brought by the Dutch and the British to the Dutch colony of S ...
form 27% of the population. They are descendants of 19th-century indentured workers from
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
, who came to work on the sugar estates of
Surinam. They are mostly from present-day
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
,
Bengal
Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
,
Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...
, and
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
, in
Northern India
North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...
.
**
Javanese Surinamese, descendants of indentured workers from the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...
(present
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
) on the island of
Java
Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
,
[Orang Jawa di Suriname (Javanese in Suriname)](_blank)
, ''kompasiana''. Access date:26 March 2011 form 14% of the population.
**
Chinese Surinamese, mainly descendants of the earliest 19th-century indentured workers. The 1990s and early 21st century saw renewed immigration on a large scale. In the year 2011 there were over 40,000 Chinese in Suriname.
[Romero, Simon]
"With Aid and Migrants, China Expands Its Presence in a South American Nation"
''The New York Times'', 10 April 2011.
**Lebanese Surinamese, primarily
Maronites from
Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
,
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
and
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
.
*
European Surinamese make up 1% of the Surinamese population:
** The
Boeroes (derived from ''boer'', the
Dutch word for "farmer") make up the largest group of European Surinamese. They are descendants of 19th-century immigrant
Dutch farmers.
** The
Portuguese Surinamese from
Madeira
Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...
are descendants of indentured workers from Madeira in 1853.
*
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
of
Sephardic and
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
origin. In their history,
Jodensavanne plays a major role. Many Jews are mixed with other ethnicities.
*
Multiracial Surinamese form 13.4% of the Surinamese population.
Population
Most of the inhabitants live in the north of the country, in the districts of
Paramaribo
Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...
,
Wanica and
Nickerie. The least populated county is
Sipaliwini, which covers most of the nation's interior and is sparsely inhabited. More than half of the population lives in and around the capital.
Emigration
Migration to the Netherlands began during the colonial era. Initially, this was mainly the colonial elite, but expanded during the 1920s and 1930s to include other inhabitants looking for better education, employment, or other opportunities.
Approximately 350,000 individuals of Surinamese descent now live in the Netherlands, with mass migration beginning in the years leading up to Suriname's independence in 1975, and continuing during military rule in the 1980s and for largely economic reasons extended throughout the 1990s. Other emigration destinations include French Guiana, the United States, Aruba, Curaçao, Belgium, Canada, Indonesia and Guyana.
Languages
In Suriname, there are no fewer than twenty languages spoken. Most Surinamese are
multilingual. In terms of numbers of speakers are the main languages in Suriname, successively the
Dutch language
Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...
,
Sranan Tongo
Sranan Tongo (Sranantongo, "Surinamese tongue", Sranan, Surinamese Creole) is an English-based creole language from Suriname, in South America, where it is the first or second language for 519,600 Surinamese people (approximately 80% of the popu ...
(Surinamese Creole),
Sarnami (Surinamese Hindustani),
Surinamese-Javanese, and different Maroon languages (especially
Saramaccan and
Aukan). Since most Surinamese people are multilingual (for instance Dutch and Sranan Tongo), the society functions as a
diglossia, where Dutch is the standardized and formal
prestige register and Sranan Tongo generally the informal street
vernacular
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
.
Dutch serves as the language of law, government, business, media and education.
According to the results of the seventh general population and housing census, which was held in 2004, Dutch is the most spoken home language in the country, at around 60% of the population speaking it at home.
A further 24% of the population speaks Dutch as a
second language.
[Source: Zevende algemene volks- en woningtelling 2004, Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek] Sranan Tongo, is spoken primarily as a second language in 46% of households, along with 22% Sarnami Hindustani and 11% Javanese.
Religion
The following religious statistics have been reported as of 2012:
[2012 Suriname Census Definitive Results](_blank)
Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek – Suriname.
* 48.4%
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
(26.8%
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
and 21.6%
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
)
* 22.3%
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
(
Sanatani and
Arya Samaj)
* 13.9%
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
(Sunni, Shia, and Ahmadiyya)
* 4.7% Other
* 10.7% None
See also
*
Culture of Suriname
*
Surinamese people in the Netherlands
*
Surinamese people in Belgium
*
Surinamese Americans
*
Women in Suriname
*
History of Suriname
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surinamese People
South American people by nationality