The free zone installed for five years
Included in the programming law for the refoundation of Mayotte, the global free zone regime for the entire Mahorais territory came into force on March 3, 2026, with retroactive effect from January 1, for a period of five years. Companies from almost every sector, if they have fewer than 250 employees and a turnover of less than 50 million, will not pay any income tax (income tax or corporate tax), nor property tax on built properties, nor corporate property tax. The system will apply until the 2030 fiscal year inclusive.. It aims to mitigate the effects of the succession of crises experienced by the island economy in recent years., the last being due to Cyclone Chido on December 14, 2024.
The census is finished
Data collection as part of the census of the Mahoraise population ended on January 24. 700 municipal agents were mobilized for two months to count the inhabitants of each dwelling., mapped in advance by INSEE agents. The National Institute of Statistics will be able to produce the results in a few months. Without waiting, he commented on the operation on his blog by reaffirming that “the figure of 500,000 inhabitants, sometimes mentioned, is not realistic”. The decision to repeat a complete census was taken at the beginning of 2025, after the passage of Cyclone Chido which recomposed the landscape of informal housing. It was a question of responding to a generalized conviction in public opinion : the population of the Department (officially 329,000 inhabitants) is clearly underestimated, part of the illegal population going under the radar. There would rather be 500,000 inhabitants distributed between Grande-Terre and Petite-Terre.. INSEE indicates that only 3% of housing could not be visited during the collection at the end of 2025-beginning of 2026 but that the number of their occupants will be subject to an estimate..
Medals at the General Agricultural Competition
As part of the International Agricultural Show organized in Paris at the end of February, the quality of Mahoraise vanilla was recognized during the General Agricultural Competition. The gold medal goes to producer Foundi Madi, his counterpart Mohamadi Sabiti winning the silver medal. Mahorean vanilla production remains confidential but will be affected in 2026 by the damage from Cyclone Chido. However, a distribution program of 70,000 plants was implemented, with the aim of reaching 5 tonnes of pods in the next five or six years. Mayotte returned from the General Agricultural Competition with a third medal : the silver one awarded to the beekeeper Combo Coco for his honey.
Slight increase in births in 2025
INSEE counted 9,070 children born in 2025 to mothers living in Mayotte, figure slightly increasing (160 more births) compared to 2024. Of this total, 530 births took place outside the 101st department, a growing number of future mothers preferring to give birth in Reunion or in mainland France. Three quarters of Mahorais babies in 2025 have a foreign mother (mainly Comorian), and more than one father in two is also Comorian. Only 18% of newborns this year have both French parents, compared to 28% in 2014. Infant mortality is high (10,4 out of 10,000 children died before their first birthday) and increasing. The Mahorais natural balance is very largely positive : last year, only 1,040 island residents died.
