| Group: | Surinamese people |
| Flag: | File:Flag of Suriname.svg |
| Flag Caption: | Flag of Suriname |
| Population: | 1,000,000 |
| Region1: | Suriname |
| Region2: | Netherlands |
| Pop2: | 349,978 |
| Ref2: | [1] [2] |
| Region3: | France |
| Pop3: | 32,412 |
| Ref3: | [3] |
| Region4: | Belgium |
| Pop4: | 20,000 |
| Ref4: | [4] |
| Region5: | United States |
| Pop5: | 14,555 |
| Ref5: | [5] |
| Region6: | Guyana |
| Pop6: | 4,662 |
| Ref6: | [6] |
| Region7: | Aruba |
| Pop7: | 3,000 |
| Ref7: | [7] |
| Region8: | Curaçao |
| Pop8: | 2,000 |
| Ref8: | [8] |
| Region9: | Canada |
| Pop9: | 1,005 |
| Region10: | Indonesia |
| Pop10: | 1,000 |
| Languages: | Dutch, Sranan Tongo, Sarnami Hindustani, English, Surinamese-Javanese, Maroon languages, Indigenous languages |
| Religions: | Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Winti, Kejawèn, Indigenous Amerindian religion, Irreligious |
Surinamese people are people who identify with the country of Suriname. 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, racial, religious, 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 with ethnicity, but with citizenship and allegiance to Suriname. Aside from the indigenous population, nearly all Surinamese or their ancestors arrived since the Age of Discovery and establishment of the colony of Surinam, primarily from Africa, Europe and Asia.
The population of Suriname is made up of various distinguishable ethnic groups:
Most of the inhabitants live in the north of the country, in the districts of Paramaribo, 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.
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.[12]
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 and the United States.
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, Sranan Tongo (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.[13] Dutch serves as the language of law, government, business, media and education.[14]
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.[15] A further 24% of the population speaks Dutch as a second language.[16] [15] Sranan Tongo, is spoken primarily as a second language in 46% of households, along with 22% Sarnami Hindustani and 11% Javanese.
The following religious statistics have been reported as of 2012:[17]