🇲🇺 Mauritius

Mauritius is an Indian Ocean island of 1.3 million that's one of Africa's great success stories — it went from a sugar-dependent monoculture at independence in 1968 to a diversified upper-middle-income economy with a GDP of about $14 billion. The country has the highest GDP per capita in Africa. Mauritius has successfully developed textiles, tourism, financial services, and IT outsourcing. The country is extraordinarily diverse — Hindu, Muslim, Chinese, Creole, and Franco-Mauritian communities coexist. The dodo, the world's most famous extinct bird, was endemic to Mauritius and was wiped out by the 1680s.

Financial services (Mauritius is a major conduit for investment into India and Africa), tourism, textiles, and sugar are the main sectors. The country has signed double taxation treaties with over 40 countries, making it a preferred investment routing hub. India, the UK, France, and South Africa are the main trade partners. GDP growth has been around 4-5%. The country's economic freedom index is the highest in Africa. Mauritius has a well-regulated offshore banking sector managing about $800 billion in global business assets.

Mauritius's underwater waterfall illusion — visible from the air off the Le Morne peninsula — is actually sand and silt deposits creating the appearance of a massive underwater cascade. The country has the world's third-largest coral reef. Mauritius was the only known habitat of the dodo, and the phrase "dead as a dodo" entered the English language because of the bird's extinction here.

Mauritius is the model for small island economic development — diversified, well-governed, and strategically positioned between Africa and Asia. India's renegotiation of the tax treaty is a risk, but the fundamentals are strong.