Paramaribo serves as the capital city for the Republic of Suriname, South America’s smallest independent country both in terms of population and geographic size.

Nicknames for Paramaribo include Par’bo and the Paris of Suriname. A popular moniker for Suriname is the Little United Nations, reflecting the diverse nationalities resulting from immigration to Suriname over its history.

Paramaribo is one of the few capital cities where there is a Muslim mosque is near a Jewish synagogue, a tribute to Paramaribo’s cultural diversity and religion tolerance.

Suriname is a hilly nation. Its capital city has its highest hill named Julianatop with an elevation of 4,199 feet (1,230 meters).

Another of Paramaribo’s attributes its tropical rainforest climate, distinguished by a monthly average rainfall of 2.4 inches (60 millimeters) throughout the year.

Research website numbeo ranks Paramaribo in the bottom 18% compared to the 250 cities evaluated on its overall quality of life index at June 2020. Paramaribo scored poorly on index factors such as health care (poorest 1%), purchasing power (weakest 2%), safety (worst 30%) and pollution (severest 47%). On the positive side, Paramaribo rates among the 40% least expensive for cost of living and in the 44% lowest for property price to income ratio.

Paramaribo is increasingly benefiting from tourism, with most visitors arriving from the Netherlands. The official language for Suriname is Dutch.

From an international trade perspective, Suriname exported an estimated US$1.5 billion worth of products around the globe in 2019. Its most valuable products include gold (51.3% of Suriname’s global total), rough wood (4.3%), refined petroleum oils (2.5%), cigarettes (1.9%), rice (1.8%), liquor (0.8%), apricots (also 0.8%), and fish fillets (0.7%) according to the International Trade Centre.

Capital Facts for Paramaribo, Suriname: Quick Reference

 
Suriname won its independence from the Netherlands on November 25, 1975. Fittingly named Suriname’s Independence Day, each November 25 is celebrated as a national holiday.

Paramaribo’s land area measures 70 square miles (182 square kilometers) with an estimated population of 223,757 residents at August 30, 2020.

At the country level, Suriname’s population count was 587,521 as of August 2020 living over a total land territory equal to 60,232 square miles (156,000 square kilometers).

Population density is more concentrated within Suriname’s capital city Paramaribo averaging 3,197 people per square mile (1,229 per square kilometer). Almost half of the total national population lives in Paramaribo.

Zooming out to Suriname’s overall land boundaries, population density drops to an average 10 people per square mile (4 per square kilometer)–placing Suriname among the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign countries.