Seychelles

Economy & income

Currency

• Seychellois rupee (SCR, symbol SR / ₨)
• ~14.7 SR per USD (Jul 2026, ~$0.068/SR)

GDP per capita

• ~$21,600 nominal (IMF, 2025 est.; ~$21,940 for 2026) — highest in Africa
• ~$43,100 PPP (IMF, 2025)
• World Bank shows ~$16,586 (2024, methodology differs)

Average salary

• ~$1,100 net/mo (est. after ~15% income tax)
• gross ~$1,300 (₨19,000, wage.is 2026 aggregator)

Median salary

• ~$820/mo (₨12,000, wage.is 2026 aggregator est.)
• official NBS median earnings n/a in USD

Minimum wage

• ₨40.95/hour → ₨7,098/mo at 40h/wk ≈ $485/mo (effective Apr 2025; +7%, first rise since 2020)
• Casual: ₨47.19/hr

Cost of living

• Medium-High for the region — import-dependent tourism economy
• Numbeo data thin/limited for Seychelles (very few contributors — flag as unreliable)

Digital landscape

Population

0.13 million (132k, Jan 2025; national census ~121k, 2024)

Internet users

87.4% (~115k users) — among Africa's highest

Social media users

53.5% (~70.4k user identities)

Mobile connections

220k cellular connections = 167% of population (Jan 2025)

Devices

mobile ~53% / desktop ~46% / tablet ~1% (StatCounter, mid-2026)

Ad spend

• n/a — DataReportal does not publish ad-spend figures for Seychelles (market too small)
• digital ad activity is Meta/Google-led

Top social platforms

Facebook ~70.4k reach — dominant

LinkedIn ~57k reach, 43% — unusually high; offshore-finance/expat skew

Facebook Messenger ~43.8k

Instagram ~39.9k; fast-growing +11% YoY

X/Twitter ~19.7k; declining ~-46% YoY

• YouTube & TikTok — widely used but no DataReportal ad-reach figure published for SC

Messengers

• WhatsApp (most-used chat app regionally; no DataReportal reach figure published for SC)
• Facebook Messenger (~43.8k reach, Jan 2025)
• Viber / Telegram (minor)

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Visa & Mastercard cards (dominant, esp. online for mid/high-income) — not COD
• Cash (₨) — common for small purchases & local markets
• Contactless / tap-to-pay (NFC — growing fast 2025-26 at supermarkets/cafes)
• Bank transfer / mobile banking (MCB, Absa, Nouvobanq apps)

E-wallets

• Apple Pay & Google Pay (growing, younger users)
• Airtel Money (mobile money — limited reach)
• PayPal (used for cross-border)

Cash on delivery

• Low — high-income, card-based economy
• cash-on-delivery is NOT a significant model here (atypical for a 'Tier-3' geo)

E-commerce

• Low/emerging — tiny population
• most retail is in-person or via foreign platforms (Amazon/AliExpress imports)
• local e-commerce nascent

Notes

• Banks: Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), Absa, Nouvobanq
• Two telcos: Airtel and Cable & Wireless (plus Intelvision)
• Card acceptance high in tourism/retail

Audience & culture

Languages

• Seychellois Creole (~91% native; official)
• English (~5% native but official + business/government language)
• French (~0.7% native; official)

Religion

Roman Catholic ~61.3%, Anglican ~5.0%, other Christian ~8.6%, Hindu ~5.4%, Muslim ~1.6%, other/none (2022 census)

Median age

34.3 years (DataReportal 2025; census ~34)

Key seasons

• Festival Kreol / Creole Festival (late Oct — cultural peak)
• Carnaval International de Victoria (Apr)
• Christmas & New Year (Dec-Jan — peak tourism + local spending)
• National Day (18 June Constitution / 29 June Independence); SUBIOS underwater festival
• Tourism high seasons: Dec-Mar & Jul-Aug

Cultural notes

• Small, tight-knit, multilingual society (constant Creole/English code-switching)
• tourism-driven
• very high smartphone use
• Facebook-first
• conservative Catholic values but socially relaxed
• The islands are a heavy backdrop for foreign travel-influencer content

Where to find creators

• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok (growing)
• YouTube

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

T

The Seychelles Islands ~566K YouTube

YouTubeOfficial destination/tourism channel — travel & resort content; strong for travel offers

I

island.seychelles ~218K Instagram

InstagramIslands & tourism content page — travel/lifestyle

S

Sankosanco ~60K Instagram

InstagramFitness/lifestyle — health & nutra relevance

M

Marladyz ~25K Instagram

InstagramLifestyle/beauty

Sandra Esparon (SandraSeychelles) n/a — modest local following

YouTube/InstagramSeychellois singer/creator — music & Creole culture

Celebrities

Wavel Ramkalawan n/a — modest, mainly Facebook

President of Seychelles (since 2020); Anglican priest

James Michel n/a — modest/local

President of Seychelles 2004-2016

Danny Faure n/a — modest/local

President of Seychelles 2016-2020

G

Grace Barbé n/a — niche world-music following

Seychellois-Australian world-music singer (Sega/Moutya/Afrobeat)

J

Jean-Marc Volcy n/a — local following

Pioneering Seychellois Creole musician/composer

E

Eddy Maillet n/a — local/football following

FIFA international football referee (2010 World Cup)

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• Travel/tourism & hospitality (dominant)
• Offshore services — company formation, iGaming & crypto (VASP) licensing
• Forex/CFD brokers (many SC-licensed offshore)
• Finance / e-wallets (mid & high income)

Active networks

• No Seychelles-based networks — global only: Awin, Admitad/Mitgo, CJ, Impact
• iGaming / crypto / forex affiliate programs targeting SC-licensed operators
• Amazon Associates / AliExpress (imported-goods content)

Payouts

• As a consumer geo, volumes are minimal and display CPMs modest
• real value is high-ticket offshore-license / forex / crypto CPA (high per-action), NOT Tier-3 mass volume
• Local retail CPA scarce

Competition

• Domestic volume is tiny/low competition
• but global tourism keywords for 'Seychelles' (resorts, OTAs) are highly competitive

Seasonality

• Tourism-led: peaks Dec-Mar & Jul-Aug
• Creole Festival (Oct)
• Dec-Jan holiday spending

Traffic sources

• Meta (Facebook/Instagram) ads
• Google Search/Display
• TikTok (growing)
• Tourism SEO & content/blogs

Good to know

Capital

Victoria (on Mahé island)

Major cities

• Victoria (only real urban centre, ~26k metro)
• Anse Boileau
• Beau Vallon
• Anse Royale
• Takamaka
• Bel Ombre (main islands: Mahé, Praslin, La Digue)

Time zones

• Single time zone — UTC+4 (Seychelles Time)
• no daylight saving

Android vs iOS

62% 38%

Android 62% iOS 38%

Phone brands

• Samsung (~lead)
• Apple/iPhone (strong — ~38% iOS share)
• Huawei
• Xiaomi
• Tecno (approx.; high-income market skews to Samsung/Apple; no vendor split cited)

Top e-commerce

• Cross-border dominates: Amazon, AliExpress, Shein, eBay (imported goods)
• Local: supermarket/retailer sites + Facebook Marketplace (nascent) — limited data

Peak activity

Evenings ~19:00-22:00 local (UTC+4) and weekends; lunch ~12:00-13:00 secondary

Creative taboos

• Politics is sensitive in a small, interconnected society
• respect Catholic-majority values and Creole culture
• strong environmental/marine-conservation sensitivity (avoid content harming reefs/wildlife)

Also worth knowing

1. Seychelles' real affiliate relevance is as an offshore LICENSING/registration jurisdiction (iGaming under FSA, crypto via VASP Act 2024, IBCs, forex brokers) — not as a consumer traffic geo (only ~132k residents).
2. Audience is atypical for 'Tier-3': high-income (Africa's highest GDP/capita), English/Creole-literate, Facebook-first and card-paying — behaves closer to Tier-1; COD is not a thing.
3. Most large 'Seychelles' influencer inventory = FOREIGN travel creators geo-tagged to the islands (e.g., Russian model Anyuta Rai ~2.4M), so paid geo-targeting reaches tourists as much as locals