Suriname

Economy & income

Currency

• Surinamese dollar (SRD, Sr$/$)
• free-floating & heavily devalued — ~37.4 SRD per USD (Jun 2026, up from ~7.5 in 2020 after 2020-24 devaluations)

GDP per capita

~$6,860 nominal (IMF WEO, 2025; ~$4.51B total) / ~$22,440 PPP (2025; ~$14.7B PPP total — PPP well above nominal, classic developing-economy gap)

Average salary

• ~$272 net/mo (Numbeo Suriname, Aug 2025 — THIN small-country sample, treat as indicative)
• gross n/a. Local SRD wage surveys (Paylab ~SRD 3,000/mo) predate the 2020-24 SRD collapse and badly understate real USD value

Median salary

• n/a — no reliable current median published
• SRD-denominated survey data predates heavy currency devaluation, so any SRD median converts to a misleading USD figure

Minimum wage

National minimum wage SRD 52.47/hr gross (from 1 Apr 2025; was SRD 49.12) → ~SRD 9,100/mo full-time (40h wk) ≈ ~$243/mo

Cost of living

• Low — Numbeo: ~38% below US excl. rent, ~50% incl. rent, rent ~73% below US (Aug 2025; thin sample)
• Genuinely cheap local market, but imported goods costly and inflation elevated (~15% in 2024)

Digital landscape

Population

• ~0.637 million (637k, Jan 2025)
• 66.6% urban, median age 28.6

Internet users

78.4% (~500k users, Jan 2025); ~138k offline (21.6%)

Social media users

• 54.8% (~349k social identities, Jan 2025)
• 69.9% of internet users

Mobile connections

• 943k cellular connections = 148% of population (Jan 2025)
• 91.9% broadband-capable (3G/4G/5G)

Devices

desktop ~60.6% / mobile ~38.3% / tablet ~1.1% (StatCounter, Jun 2026) — atypically desktop-heavy for a Tier-3 label, despite 148% mobile-connection penetration

Ad spend

• n/a — DataReportal Digital 2025 Suriname publishes no digital ad-spend figure (market too small to break out)
• no separately reported digital ad spend

Top social platforms

Facebook ~349k, 54.8% reach — dominant platform

Facebook Messenger ~219k, 34.3%

LinkedIn ~130k, 20.4% — inflated by registered members

Instagram ~121k, 19.0%

X/Twitter ~30k, 4.8%

• TikTok & YouTube widely used but ad-reach not published by DataReportal for SR

Messengers

• WhatsApp (dominant day-to-day + informal-commerce messenger)
• Facebook Messenger (~219k reach)
• Telegram (minor)
• Instagram DM

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Cash (dominant — especially outside Paramaribo & in the informal economy)
• Debit cards on the national BNETS network (POS & ATM, banked urban population)
• Bank transfer / online & mobile banking
• Mopé wallet & Mopé debit card (bank-linked, financial-inclusion push)
• Credit cards Visa/Mastercard (limited, higher-income & cross-border)

E-wallets

• Mopé (Hakrinbank-led digital wallet + debit card; usable without a bank account, pays at any BNETS ATM/POS)
• Apple Pay / Google Pay & PayPal (usable for cross-border e-commerce, thin local acceptance)

Cash on delivery

• High — cash-on-delivery / cash-on-pickup is the norm for local online orders
• card-not-present penetration is low and trust in local online payment is limited

E-commerce

• Low / nascent — few local webshops
• most 'e-commerce' is social commerce via Facebook Marketplace, Instagram & WhatsApp shops with cash/COD settlement
• cross-border buying via desertcart, Amazon and US freight-forwarders

Notes

• Predominantly a cash economy
• CBvS is pushing electronic payments & financial inclusion (Mopé)
• No M-Pesa-style telco mobile-money — the digital-wallet story is bank-led (Mopé)

Audience & culture

Languages

• Dutch (official — govt, media, education; ~60% speak it natively)
• Sranan Tongo (English-based creole; national lingua franca across ethnic groups)
• Sarnami / Surinamese Hindustani (Indo-Surinamese community)
• Surinamese Javanese
• Maroon languages (Saramaccan, Aukan/Ndyuka)
• English understood by many, esp. younger urban

Religion

• Christian 48.4% (Pentecostal, Moravian, Roman Catholic)
• Hindu 22.3%
• Muslim 13.9% (highest Muslim share in the Americas)
• no religion 7.5%
• unanswered 3.2%
• other 2.1% (2012 census)

Median age

28.6 years (DataReportal, Jan 2025) — young population

Key seasons

• Phagwa / Holi (Mar — Hindu spring/colour festival, public holiday)
• Keti Koti / Emancipation Day (1 Jul — abolition of slavery; major cultural event & closures)
• Divali / Diwali (Oct–Nov — Hindu festival of lights)
• Eid al-Fitr & Eid al-Adha (Muslim community)
• Christmas & New Year (Dec–Jan retail peak)
• Chinese New Year (Jan–Feb)

Cultural notes

• Deeply multi-ethnic (Creole, Maroon, Hindustani, Javanese, Chinese, Indigenous) & multi-religious — respect for all faiths is essential
• Dutch-language creatives are a must (NOT English)
• very strong Netherlands diaspora overlap — content & products often flow via NL-Surinamese audiences
• festival-driven gifting across the calendar

Where to find creators

• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• YouTube
• WhatsApp broadcast/Status
• Local radio & TV personalities

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

DJ Chuckie (Clyde Narain) ~164K Instagram

InstagramInternational DJ/producer (dirty-house pioneer), Suriname-born — music, nightlife & lifestyle brand fit

R

Raul Neijhorst ~70K YouTube

YouTube/InstagramPhotographer & Suriname lifestyle/travel vlogger — biggest genuinely SR-based YouTube creator; tourism/lifestyle fit

K

Kenny B ~47K Instagram

InstagramReggae/kaseko singer ('Parijs') — broad local + Netherlands-diaspora appeal

Jeangu Macrooy ~41K Instagram

Instagram/YouTubeSinger-songwriter (Netherlands' Eurovision 2021 entrant) — Dutch/English, diaspora & LGBTQ-friendly brand appeal

Damaru (Dino Canterburg) n/a (est. modest)

YouTube/InstagramKaseko/Bollywood-crossover singer ('Mi Rowsu') — huge with Indo-Surinamese & NL-Suriname audiences

Jörgen Raymann n/a (est. mid-tier)

Instagram/TVSurinamese-Dutch comedian & TV host (cabaret 'Tante Es') — mainstream diaspora entertainment brand fit

Celebrities

Virgil van Dijk ~18M Instagram

Footballer, Liverpool & Netherlands captain; Surinamese mother & holds Suriname citizenship (diaspora icon)

Clarence Seedorf ~2.0M Instagram

Retired footballer (Ajax/Real Madrid/AC Milan), Paramaribo-born — 4× Champions League winner

Tyrone Spong ~169K Instagram

Kickboxer & boxer ('King of the Ring'), Paramaribo-born

Remy Bonjasky n/a

Three-time K-1 World Grand Prix kickboxing champion, Suriname-born

Anthony Nesty n/a (not a social-media figure)

Olympic 100m butterfly champion (1988) — first Black Olympic swimming gold medallist & national hero; now head swim coach at University of Florida

Ronnie Brunswijk n/a

Vice-President of Suriname (since 2020), businessman & ex-guerrilla leader; also famously fielded himself as a footballer

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• iGaming / sports betting (offshore + licensed Suribet)
• Nutra & supplements (COD-friendly)
• Sweepstakes / e-commerce (COD gadgets, cosmetics)
• Financial / loans / forex & crypto (grey)
• Dating
• Mobile utilities / VAS / app installs

Active networks

• No local networks — served by global/LATAM & Tier-3 CPA nets: iGaming/betting affiliate programs (1xBet Partners, Mostbet, Melbet, plus local Suribet)
• Broad CPA nets covering LATAM/Tier-3 (ClickDealer, Adcombo, Golden Goose)
• Dr.Cash & similar for nutra/COD offers
• Amazon Associates / cross-border e-commerce

Payouts

• Classic Tier-3 — cheap CPMs/CPCs but low payouts & small volumes
• COD/CPL models dominate over CPS (weak card e-commerce)
• Betting/nutra CPA on the lower Tier-3 end
• expect modest lead counts

Competition

• Low absolute volume — tiny ~500k online audience means limited scale
• usually bundled into 'Caribbean'/LATAM or Dutch-diaspora lookalike buys rather than run standalone
• Dutch-language + multi-ethnic targeting adds creative overhead

Seasonality

• Spikes around multi-faith festivals (Phagwa Mar, Keti Koti Jul, Divali Oct-Nov, Eid, Christmas/New Year) and payday cycles
• betting peaks with major football/cricket fixtures

Traffic sources

• Meta (Facebook/Instagram) ads — Facebook is the reach leader
• WhatsApp / social-commerce groups
• Google Search & YouTube
• Push & popunder (cheap Tier-3 inventory)
• TikTok (growing)
• Influencer/creator & local-radio tie-ins

Good to know

Capital

Paramaribo

Major cities

• Paramaribo (capital; metro holds roughly half the population)
• Lelydorp
• Nieuw Nickerie
• Moengo
• Albina
• Nieuw Amsterdam

Time zones

Single zone — Suriname Time (SRT), UTC-3, no daylight saving

Android vs iOS

69% 31%

Android 69% iOS 31%

Phone brands

• Samsung (leading Android brand, heavily stocked by local retailers)
• Apple/iPhone (~31% of mobile OS, urban/higher-income)
• Xiaomi/Redmi (budget)
• Huawei/Honor
• Tecno/Infinix (entry-level)

Top e-commerce

• Facebook Marketplace + Instagram/WhatsApp shops (dominant social commerce)
• Kirpalani's N.V. (department store, kirpalani.com)
• Sam Tronix N.V. (electronics/phones)
• HSDS Online
• CHM Suriname (appliances/electronics/furniture)
• desertcart / Amazon (cross-border via freight-forwarders)

Peak activity

Evenings ~7-11pm and weekday lunchtime ~12-2pm (SRT, UTC-3); weekend daytime for lifestyle/family content

Creative taboos

• Inter-ethnic & inter-religious harmony (Creole/Maroon/Hindustani/Javanese; Christian/Hindu/Muslim) — avoid taking sides
• slavery/colonial legacy around Keti Koti
• conservative on explicit/adult content
• party politics

Also worth knowing

1. Dutch is non-negotiable for creatives (not English) and there is heavy overlap with the large Netherlands-Surinamese diaspora — target NL-Suriname audiences alongside domestic.
2. Cash & COD rule; card e-commerce is weak, so lean CPL/COD offers and social-commerce funnels (Facebook/WhatsApp), not card-based CPS.
3. Tiny (~500k online) but cheap: low CPMs, low payouts, low scale — a volume-test/complement geo, not a standalone money-maker; Facebook + WhatsApp carry most reach despite an oddly desktop-heavy StatCounter web split.