Mayotte

Mayotte is an overseas department of France and an outermost region of the European Union and consists of two islands and several islets situated in the north of the Mozambican Channel. It has a land mass of 374 square kilometres with a population of 299,348 and a GDP of US$2.98bn.

It was originally part of the Comoros which was a French colony until 1975 when it declared independence, but Mayotte opted to remain part of France and voted overwhelmingly in 2009 in favour of becoming an integral part of France. Its official currency is the euro.

The service sector, including health services, telecommunications and computer services, is Mayotte’s principal source of employment. Agriculture is confined to the central and north-eastern plains, and cash crops include vanilla, ylang-ylang, coffee, and coconuts. Cassava (a root vegetable), bananas, corn (maize) and rice are grown for subsistence. The island’s main exports are ylang-ylang extract and farmed fish. Food products, machinery, chemicals, and transport equipment are the major imports. Mayotte’s major trading partner is France, and the economy in large part depends on French aid.


Sources: Who Owns Whom sector reports, CIA Factbook, African Development Bank, World Bank, Trading Economics, African Statistical Yearbook and IMF.