Mauritius is considered to be an upper middle income. Despite its small size, regional variations in poverty exist in Mauritius, with incidence of relative poverty higher in urban areas (12.4%) than in rural areas (eight percent).The World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness index ranked Mauritius at 54 out of 133 countries in 2011 - 2012, behind only South Africa in the Africa Region.

Since 2007, OCHA ROSA has been supporting various activities in Mauritius, including:

• A table-top exercise on pandemic influenza in 2009;
• Discussions with the Indian Ocean Commission on preparedness issues in 2010; and
• Discussions with national authorities their participation in United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC)  training in 2011 and possible OCHA support for contingency planning for tsunamis.