Réunion is a territory in the Africa card group. Overseas department and region of France.
Africa and its surrounding islands. The dot marks Saint-Denis; the mapped territory is highlighted in gold.
Natural Earth · locator mapRéunion is a mountainous volcanic island in the Indian Ocean. Its interior rises sharply from the coast and includes deep valleys and amphitheatre-like basins called cirques. Mafate is one of these rugged interior landscapes.
Piton de la Fournaise is an active volcano in the southeast. Its lava fields contrast with the vegetated slopes and deeply eroded older mountains elsewhere on the island. Roads and settlements are concentrated around coastal areas and accessible valleys.
Trade winds and mountains produce strong differences in rainfall between exposed and sheltered slopes. Temperatures also fall with elevation. Forest habitats change as the land rises, while intense rain can rapidly increase flows in steep river channels.
The French tricolor is the official national flag: vertical bands of blue, white and red.
Sources: Réunion tourism board · history · INSEE · demographic report
Volcanic terrain is a major feature of southeastern Réunion.
Photo: Alexandre Péribé · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
_Mafate_(version_am%C3%A9lior%C3%A9e).jpg)
Steep ridges and valleys surround the island’s mountainous interior.
Photo: User:Mamphi · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
French is the official language, used in administration, education and public institutions.
Réunion Creole is widely used in daily life and cultural expression. It is a French-based Creole with its own history and structure. French and Creole commonly serve different, overlapping roles for the same speakers.
Sources: Réunion Tourism · Creole language
French settlement developed on Réunion in the seventeenth century. Plantation production relied on enslaved labor until slavery was abolished on the island in 1848. Réunion became an overseas department of France in 1946.
Sources: Réunion tourism board · history · INSEE · demographic report
Services, public administration, commerce, construction and tourism are important activities. Sugarcane remains an important crop. The island is integrated into the French economy and uses the euro.
Sources: Réunion tourism board · history · INSEE · demographic report
911,000 · 1 January 2026 · provisional INSEE estimate
Sources: Réunion tourism board · history · INSEE · demographic report
Overseas department and region of France. Elected departmental and regional councils have local responsibilities; a prefect represents the French state. Réunion is an outermost region of the European Union.
Sources: Réunion tourism board · history · INSEE · demographic report
Three questions about Réunion.
Sources: Réunion tourism board · history · INSEE · demographic report
Prepared 24 September 2026. World Bank series: SP.POP.TOTL (persons) and NY.GDP.MKTP.KD (constant 2015 US dollars); downloaded 24 September 2026, provider update 13 July 2026. UNDP values use the 2025 report and 2023 observation year. These are dated statistical snapshots, not live population or economic counters.
Maps use Natural Earth geographic data. Background geography, flag descriptions and selected historical facts use archived public-domain CIA World Factbook profiles, supplemented by the sources linked above. The Factbook is no longer updated; dated statistics here come from the separately named providers.
