Suriname

North AmericaCapital city: ParamariboCapital metro: ParamariboPresident: Jennifer Geerlings-Simons
2026 population
617K
Rank #175 globally
Area
164k km² (63k sq mi)
Metros tracked
1
39% of population in metros
Composite score
0.3
Rank #216 globally

population: Official estimate (1 Jul 2021) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 1 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography1 metro

Suriname metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
1 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 1 tracked metro
1 metros
#2180Paramaribo★ Capital▲ Largest
0.3
🗂️ Districts

10 entries listed under Suriname. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

10 total
📋 At a glance
Official language
Dutch
Government
Republic
Legislature
National Assembly
Demonym
Surinamese
Time zone
UTC−03:00
Driving side
Left
Calling code
+597
Internet TLD
.sr
ISO 3166
SR
Established
1975
Highest point
Julianatop (1,280 m (4,199 ft))
National anthem
God zij met ons Suriname

Facts via Wikidata.

💹 Economy and developmentUpper middle income
Human Dev. Index
#113 / 191
0.722
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#163 / 193
$4.5B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#100 / 193
$7.1k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#85 / 190
$22.7k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#107 / 192
$6.1k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#98 / 194
73.8 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
28.1 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#87 / 194
66%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
0.9%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#188 / 193
4/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#71 / 193
8.2%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#49 / 175
0.80
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#115 / 166
39.2
World Bank · 2022
Internet users
#72 / 193
87%
World Bank · 2023
Inflation
#161 / 185
9.2%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#134 / 192
4.7 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#64 / 186
53%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations3 full memberships

Political & Economic

Regional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History26 leaders · click to expand

marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.

Jennifer Geerlings-Simons✦ Current

2025Present

President

Tenure: 0y 11m

Chan Santokhi

20202025

President

Tenure: 5y 0m

Dési Bouterse

20102020

President

Tenure: 9y 11m

Ronald Venetiaan

20002010

President

Tenure: 10y 0m

Jules Wijdenbosch

19962000

President

Tenure: 3y 10m

Ronald Venetiaan

19911996

President

Tenure: 4y 11m

Johan Kraag

19901991

President

Tenure: 0y 8m

Ramsewak Shankar

19881990

President

Tenure: 2y 10m

Jules Wijdenbosch

19871988

Prime Minister

Tenure: 0y 9m

Pretaap Radhakishun

19861987

Prime Minister

Tenure: 0y 8m

Wim Udenhout

19841986

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 5m

Errol Alibux

19831984

Prime Minister

Tenure: 0y 10m
Show all 26 leaders

Henry Neijhorst

19821982

Prime Minister

Tenure: 0y 8m

Fred Ramdat Misier

19821988

President

Tenure: 5y 11m

Henk Chin A Sen

19801982

President

Tenure: 1y 5m

Henk Chin A Sen

19801982

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 10m

Johan Ferrier

19751980

President

Tenure: 4y 8m

Henck Arron

19731980

Prime Minister

Tenure: 6y 2m

Jules Sedney

19691973

Prime Minister

Tenure: 4y 1m

Johan Adolf Pengel

19631969

Prime Minister

Tenure: 5y 8m

Severinus Desiré Emanuels

19581963

Prime Minister

Tenure: 5y 0m

Johan Ferrier

19551958

Prime Minister

Tenure: 3y 2m

Archibald Currie

19521955

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 4m

Adriaan Alberga

19521952

Prime Minister

Tenure: 0y 2m

Jan Buiskool

19511952

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 3m

Julius Caesar de Miranda

19491951

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 9m
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#206 · 0.0%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Suriname · share of world power, 1975–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
629k
#171 in the world
Since 1800
7.79×
from 81k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.01%
0.01% in 1800
161k323k484k645k18001850190019502000
Suriname · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Suriname: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
2071
753k on the UN median
2050
734k
95% band 428k to 1.2m
2100
709k
95% band 152k to 4.1m
2100 against 2025
1.11×
median falling from 2072
Deaths outnumber births
from 2076
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
1.1m2.2m3.2m4.3m1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
8k born · 4k died · -631 net migration
TFR 6.21 · life expectancy 50.7 · median age 17.9
1960
12k born · 4k died · +544 net migration
TFR 6.59 · life expectancy 56.6 · median age 17.0
1970
13k born · 4k died · +4k net migration
TFR 5.53 · life expectancy 59.5 · median age 14.5
1980
11k born · 4k died · -7k net migration
TFR 3.79 · life expectancy 60.7 · median age 17.3
1990
12k born · 3k died · -6k net migration
TFR 3.23 · life expectancy 62.1 · median age 19.8
2000
12k born · 4k died · +2k net migration
TFR 3.05 · life expectancy 64.4 · median age 23.0
2010
11k born · 4k died · -1k net migration
TFR 2.69 · life expectancy 69.6 · median age 25.4
2020
11k born · 4k died · -296 net migration
TFR 2.31 · life expectancy 72.3 · median age 27.5
Show all 16 decades
2030
11k born · 5k died · -963 net migration
TFR 2.11 · life expectancy 74.6 · median age 30.1
2040
10k born · 6k died · -629 net migration
TFR 1.98 · life expectancy 76.1 · median age 33.1
2050
9k born · 7k died · -684 net migration
TFR 1.89 · life expectancy 77.5 · median age 35.8
2060
9k born · 7k died · -609 net migration
TFR 1.85 · life expectancy 79.1 · median age 38.2
2070
8k born · 8k died · -461 net migration
TFR 1.81 · life expectancy 80.5 · median age 40.4
2080
8k born · 8k died · -536 net migration
TFR 1.78 · life expectancy 81.9 · median age 42.4
2090
7k born · 9k died · -568 net migration
TFR 1.76 · life expectancy 83.2 · median age 44.1
2100
7k born · 9k died · -481 net migration
TFR 1.74 · life expectancy 84.5 · median age 45.4

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

Suriname on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.