Mauritania is located in the Maghreb region of Africa, it has borders with the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Morocco and the remnants of Western Sahara in the north, Algeria in the northeast, Mali in the east and southeast, and Senegal in the southwest.
In this blog, I will cover some brief facts about Mauritania for anyone traveling or doing business there.
- Mauritania is officially called the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
- Nouakchott is the capital and largest city in Mauritania.
- The current population is just over four million.
- The official religion is Islam.
- The median age is 19.3 years old.
- Modern Standard Arabic is the official language
- Hassaniyya is the local and spoken form of Arabic used by the majority of the Mauritanian people.
- French is widely spoken among the media.
- Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof, Serer are also spoken.
Food in Mauritania is a very important part of social functions. People eat in groups, sharing a large bowl of calabash, using their right hand.
- Eating with your left hand is forbidden. Also its not acceptable to eat in the presence of one's in-laws.
- Mauritanian brides wear black gowns on their wedding day.
- Slaughtering an animal is customary for many different occasions, such as name-giving, initiation, marriage and funeral ceremonies.
- The currency is the MRO (Mauritanian Ouguiya). One USD is approximately 355.535 MRO.
- The GDP value of Mauritania represents 0.01 percent of the world economy.
- Internet penetration is only 19%.
- Mobile-cellular network coverage extends mainly to urban areas.
- WooCommerce is the top ecommerce platform in Mauritania.
- Mauritania is an agricultural country. It has significant iron ore deposits, which are the backbone of the export economy.
- Main exports are iron ore, fish and gold.
- Main trade partners are China, France, Japan, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
- Mauritania is facing multiple development challenges, such as the efficient use of revenue derived from natural resources, diversification, competitiveness and poor governance.
- The extractive industries are creating very few jobs. The agriculture and fisheries sectors employ most of the labor force, but productivity levels are low.
Mauritania is a challenging country, with specific culture and traditions. Sharia is the main law there, so laws and regulations are similar with most of the Islamic countries. Modern Standard Arabic is official language, so Arabic speakers will be very comfortable doing business with and in Mauritania, as they will not have any language barrier. Certainly, visiting Mauritania is a very different and unique experience.
Further Resources on Arabic Culture, Language and Translation
Globalization Partners International (GPI) has extensive experience localizing marketing materials, technical documents, and large, scalable websites into the Arabic language. We have previously posted a number of useful guides for best practices in this area. Feel free to review our blogs that are particularly relevant:
- Arabic Language Translation eBook
- Arabic SEO and Localization
- Translating Arabic Speaking Countries: United Arab Emirates
- Connections between Arabic and Hebrew
- Translation and Localization for Africa: Egypt
- What Are the Differences Between Arabic Languages?
Please feel free to contact GPI at firstname.lastname@example.org with any questions about our language and technology services. Also let us know if you have any interesting blog topics you would like us to cover in our future blogs. You may request a complimentary Translation Quote for your projects.
About the Author
Global Account Services Manager. Sakina is originally from Azerbaijan and is now living and working in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She fluently speaks 5 languages including Azeri, Russian, Turkish, English and Chinese. In high school, she was an exchange student in Alabama, United States of America. She graduated from Baku State University, faculty of Oriental Studies (China). She has 8 years’ experience in different fields of Business Development, Office Management, Translation and Teaching. She has worked in international companies owned by Chinese, Turkish and British firms, providing her diverse experience with different cultures and business protocols and customs. She has solid experience as well in sales, researching, customer relations and business planning. She is a proud mother of 2 year old baby-girl. In her free time she enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading and playing outdoors.More Content by Sakina Sultanova