Maldives
Name
| Official name | Republic of Maldives — Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa (ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ) |
|---|---|
| Former names | The Sultanate of the Maldive Islands (1153–1953 and 1954–68); the Maldive Islands protectorate of Britain (1887–1965); the First Republic (1953–54); Mahal Dibiyat of the Arab geographers; the Maldive Islands until 1969 |
| Demonym | Maldivian; Dhivehin, the islanders |
| Meaning of the name | Dhivehi Raajje — the island kingdom of the Dhivehi people; Maldives from the Sanskrit maala dvipa, the garland of islands, or the Tamil maalai theevu, the same; Malé the capital's island |
| Motto | None official; the arms carry "Ad-Dawlat Al-Mahaldheebiyya," the State of the Mahal Dibiyat, in Arabic |
Quick facts
| Capital | Malé — the King's Island, the capital of the sultans and the republic; about 212,000 with Hulhumalé and Villingili, a third of the country on 9 km² |
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| Largest cities | Malé; Hulhumalé, the reclaimed city of 2004 joined to it by the bridge; Addu City of Hithadhoo in the south, about 35,000; Fuvahmulah; Kulhudhuffushi; Thinadhoo; Naifaru; Ras Malé, the new city rising on the reef of Fushidhiggaru |
| Official language | Dhivehi — an Indo-Aryan language nearest to Sinhala, written right to left in the Thaana script of the 18th century whose letters began as Arabic and Indic numerals; English the language of the schools, the resorts and the government's business; Arabic of the faith |
| Currency | Maldivian rufiyaa — MVR, Rf; 100 laari; pegged at 15.42 to the U.S. dollar since 2011, the parallel rate above it |
| Time zone | Maldives Time, UTC+5; no summer time; the resorts often an hour ahead |
| Calling code | +960 |
| Internet domain | .mv |
| ISO 3166 codes | MV · MDV · 462 |
| Vehicle registration code | MV |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C, D, G, J, K and L |
| Independence | 26 July 1965, from the United Kingdom, the protectorate of 16 December 1887 ended; the Second Republic proclaimed 11 November 1968 with Ibrahim Nasir as president |
| National days | 26 July, Independence Day; 11 November, Republic Day; 1 Rabi' al-awwal, National Day, for Muhammad Thakurufaanu's victory over the Portuguese in 1573; 3 November, Victory Day, for the failed coup of 1988; 1 Rabi' al-akhir, the Day of Embracing Islam, for 1153; the Eids, the Prophet's birthday, the first of Ramadan; 1 May |
| Constitution | 7 August 2008 — the "Green Constitution" of the Second Republic's democracy, ratified by President Gayoom after the 2004 reform movement: a president elected for five years and twice at most, the People's Majlis, the Supreme Court, Islam the state religion and the condition of citizenship; amended in 2024 with the seventh amendment of 20 November unseating members who leave their parties and in 2025 for the referendum law; the eighth amendment, merging the elections, passed by the Majlis on 10 February 2026 and rejected by the people on 4 April |
| Population | 515,132 at the census of 2022 — 382,751 Maldivians and 132,381 foreigners; about 535,000 (2026 est.) |
| Area | 298 km² (115 sq mi) of land — 1,192 islands in 26 natural atolls, 187 inhabited, about 170 resorts; the exclusive economic zone about 923,000 km² |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A red field with a green rectangle at its center bearing a white crescent, its horns to the fly — the red for the blood of the heroes who defended the islands, the green for peace, prosperity and the coconut palms, the crescent for Islam; the plain red flag of the sultans given its green panel and crescent in the 1900s and the flag of today adopted 25 July 1965, the eve of independence, when the black-and-white hoist stripe of the sultanate was dropped.Flag of the Maldives |
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| Coat of arms | A coconut palm between two national flags, beneath a crescent and a five-pointed star, above a scroll with the state's name in Arabic, "Ad-Dawlat Al-Mahaldheebiyya" — the palm for the tree of life of the islands, the crescent and star for the faith and the state; adopted 1965 |
| National anthem | "Gaumee Salaam" ("National Salute") — words by Muhammad Jameel Didi, 1948, to a tune first borrowed from the chimes of a clock, the melody of today composed by the Sri Lankan master Pandit W. D. Amaradeva for Queen Elizabeth's visit of 1972 |
| National motto | None official |
| National colors | Red, green and white |
| National tree | The coconut palm — the Dhivehi Ruh of the arms, the tree of the boats, the roofs, the toddy and the oil; declared 1985 |
| National flower | The pink rose — Finifenmaa, Rosa polyantha, declared 25 July 1985 |
| National animal | The yellowfin tuna, the kanneli of the pole-and-line boats, and the whale shark of South Ari; the manta rays of Hanifaru Bay; widely cited |
| National bird | The white-breasted waterhen — the kanbili of the marshes; widely cited |
| National dish | Garudhiya — the clear tuna broth over rice with lime and chili; mas huni, the shredded smoked tuna with coconut and onion of every breakfast, eaten with roshi flatbread; rihaakuru, the tuna paste; the hedhikaa short eats of the teashops; the kandu kukulhu of the fish; widely cited |
| National sport | Football, the Red Snappers of the SAFF championship of 2008 and 2018; bashi, the women's game of the tennis ball struck backward over a net; the surfing of the reefs; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag and arms are fixed by the Constitution and the law; the anthem by law; the tree and flower by the declarations of 1985; the animals, bird, dishes and sports widely cited |
Geography
| Location | The Indian Ocean — a double chain of atolls 870 km long and 130 km wide, 700 km southwest of Sri Lanka and 400 km from India's Minicoy, astride the equator, which crosses the country between Huvadhu and Fuvahmulah |
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| Land borders | None — maritime boundaries with India and Sri Lanka; the Chagos boundary drawn with Mauritius by the tribunal of 2023 that split the disputed waters |
| Coastline | 644 km (400 mi) — the reefs of the atolls, the lagoons, the sand; the beaches of the 170 resorts |
| Highest point | About 5 m (16 ft) on Villingili in Addu Atoll — a dune and a golf-course tee; Hulhumalé built to 2 m; the lowest high point of any country |
| Lowest point | The Indian Ocean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 1.5 m (5 ft) — the lowest country on earth |
| The atolls | 26 natural atolls of the Laccadive–Chagos ridge — Huvadhu, among the largest atolls in the world at 2,800 km² with 255 islands; Thiladhunmathi and Miladhunmadulu of the north; the North and South Malé atolls of the resorts; Ari; Baa, the UNESCO biosphere reserve of 2011 with the mantas of Hanifaru Bay; Addu, the southernmost, with its British base of Gan; Fuvahmulah, a single island atoll with its lakes |
| Rivers and lakes | No rivers — the freshwater lens under each island the only water, drawn by wells and salted by the sea, the rain caught on roofs and the desalination plants of the towns; the two freshwater lakes of Fuvahmulah, Bandaara Kilhi and Dhadimagi Kilhi; the mangrove kulhi of the northern islands |
| Terrain | Flat coral islands of sand and coral rubble on the reef rims, few larger than a square kilometer, Gan and Hithadhoo of Addu the largest natural islands, Hulhumalé the largest by reclamation; the lagoons; the channels between the atolls; the 2,000-meter depths of the ocean either side of the ridge |
| Climate | Tropical monsoon — 28 to 31°C all year, about 2,000 mm of rain; the Iruvai of the northeast, the dry season of December to March, and the Hulhangu of the southwest, the wet of May to October; the sea at 28°C; the swells of the surf season |
| Natural hazards | The sea's rise — the projection of a meter by 2100 that would make most islands uninhabitable, the reason for Hulhumalé, the seawalls of Malé of 1987–2002 and the "floating city"; the tsunami of 26 December 2004, 82 dead and 26 missing, 100,000 homeless, a third of GDP lost; the coral bleaching of 1998, 2016 and 2024; the storms of the monsoon; the erosion of the islands; the dependence on every ship for food and fuel |
| Natural resources | The fish of the sea — the tuna above all; the coral and sand of the building; the beauty of the lagoons that is the economy; the sun and wind; no oil, no metals, little soil |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 23% — the coconut, the breadfruit, the taro, the chili of the small plots; forest about 3% |
| Protected areas | The Baa Atoll biosphere reserve of 2011 and the Fuvahmulah and Addu reserves of 2020, all of UNESCO; Hanifaru Bay of the mantas and whale sharks; the South Ari marine protected area of the whale sharks; some 80 protected sites of reef, mangrove and lake; the ban on shark fishing since 2010 and on the export of turtles |
| UNESCO World Heritage | None — the coral stone mosques of the Maldives, the Hukuru Miskiy of Malé of 1656 among them, on the tentative list since 2013; the three biosphere reserves; the Bodu Beru drumming of the islands unlisted |
| Administrative divisions | 20 administrative atolls and the four cities of Malé, Addu, Fuvahmulah and Kulhudhuffushi, with elected councils under the Decentralization Act of 2010 — the atolls named by the letters of Thaana, Haa Alif to Seenu; 187 inhabited islands each with its council; the resorts and industrial islands apart |
People
| Population | 515,132 (census of 2022); about 535,000 (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 1,800 per km² of land (4,600 per sq mi) — above 65,000 on the island of Malé itself, among the densest places on earth |
| Population growth | About 1.5% a year — the migrant workers most of it, the citizens growing slowly |
| Median age | About 31 years |
| Life expectancy | About 81 years — the highest in South Asia |
| Fertility rate | About 1.6 births per woman — below replacement |
| Urban population | About 42% — Malé and its islands most of it |
| Adult literacy | About 98% |
| Ethnic groups | Maldivians about 74% — the Dhivehin, one people of South Indian, Sinhalese and Arab descent with the Africans of the sultans' households in the mix, the census asking no ethnic question; foreigners about 26%, the Bangladeshi laborers above 90,000, the Indians and Sri Lankans of the resorts and the schools, the Nepalis, the Filipinos; the deportations of the undocumented under "Operation Kurangi" since 2024 (census of 2022) |
| Languages | Dhivehi by all Maldivians, with the dialects of Addu and Fuvahmulah in the south and Huvadhu, half a language apart; English by most of the young; the Bengali, Hindi and Sinhala of the workers |
| Religion | Sunni Muslim, 100% by law — Islam the state religion, the Constitution requiring every citizen to be a Muslim and every law to accord with the sharia; the conversion of the king by the Berber Abu al-Barakat in 1153 by the tradition; no other faith practiced in public, the resorts' bars the exception; the Salafi turn of the 2000s and the fighters who went to Syria, some 200 by the counts |
| Human Development Index | 0.766 (2023 data, 2025 report) — high; 93rd of 193, the second in South Asia after Sri Lanka |
| The migrant workers | About a quarter of the people foreign — the Bangladeshis of the building sites and the shops, the undocumented tens of thousands, the wages unpaid and the passports held that the reports describe; the regularization of 2019–21 and the deportations of 2024–26; the resorts staffed by the Maldivians of the atolls, weeks from their families |
| Sport | Football, the national game, the SAFF Championship of 2008 and 2018, Ali Ashfaq the scorer of 50 goals; the surfing of Pasta Point and Thulusdhoo; the free-diving; bashi; the Indian Ocean Island Games hosted in 2023; no Olympic medal |
| Diaspora | Small — the students and doctors of Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Britain and India; the Maldivians of Colombo and Trivandrum |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 2008 — the president head of state and government, elected for five years by a majority of the vote in two rounds, twice at most; the People's Majlis of 93; the Supreme Court; the atoll and island councils; Islam the religion of the state |
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| President | Mohamed Muizzu (People's National Congress — PNC), since 17 November 2023 — the eighth; a civil engineer with a doctorate from Leeds, the housing minister of 2012–18 who built the Sinamalé Bridge and the reclamations, the mayor of Malé of 2021–23, born 15 June 1978 at Malé; elected in the runoff of 30 September 2023 with 54.04% against President Solih's 45.96% on a turnout of 87%, on the promise of "India Out"; Hussain Mohamed Latheef the vice president |
| The 2024 election | The People's Majlis elected 21 April 2024: the PNC 66 of the 93 seats, 75 with its allies — the largest majority in the country's history — against the Maldivian Democratic Party's 12, from its 65 of 2019; turnout 72.9%; the president's party in command of the Majlis it had fought for five months |
| The referendum of 2026 | The eighth amendment to the Constitution — to end the Majlis's term on 1 December 2028 instead of May 2029 and to hold the presidential and parliamentary elections on the same day every five years — passed by the Majlis on 10 February 2026 by 72 votes of 73 with the opposition boycotting, and put to the people by the decree of 16 February under the Public Referendum Act of 2025; the Supreme Court refusing on 31 March to stop it; held 4 April 2026 with the local elections: No 148,859 votes and 68.74%, Yes 67,680 and 31.26%, turnout 74.98% of 294,876 — the government's case the savings and the calm of one election day, the MDP's "a strategy to secure re-election by the backdoor"; the councils of Malé and the cities taken by the MDP the same day; "I fully accept the election results," the president said, pledging to "align the administration's path with public sentiment"; "a firm no to the government," said Nasheed |
| The protests of 2026 | The nightly demonstrations in Malé since 7 April 2026 — the People's National Front of former president Yameen first, calling the 68% a lost mandate, then the MDP with its twelve demands from the councils' powers to fuel subsidies and the heads of the Elections and Anti-Corruption commissions; ten ministers resigned on 14 April; the "Aisha" documentary of Adhadhu of 28 March alleging an affair of the president, the police raid on the outlet of 27 April, the Criminal Court's nationwide order of 11 May barring any discussion of it, the two Adhadhu journalists Leevan Ali Naseer and Mohamed Shahzan jailed on 12 May, the outlet barred from the president's briefings; three former presidents — Yameen, Nasheed and Solih — joined against the government on 15 May, "enough is enough"; the pepper spray and the 20 arrested; the government's position: the journalists broke a valid court order, "normal legal procedures," and to call it an attack on the press was "unwarranted," the spokesman said, the home minister defending the police where protesters broke the agreed conditions; the Committee to Protect Journalists and Transparency Maldives calling the jailings an attack on democracy |
| The media law | The Maldives Media and Broadcasting Regulation Act, passed 16 September 2025 and ratified 18 September — the "Media Control Act" to its critics — merging the regulators into a commission with the power to fine, suspend and order content removed, its first orders against a cartoon of Adhadhu in January 2026 as "irreligious"; the journalists' rally of August 2025 and the protests of 20 September to 18 November 2025 with eight arrested, the pepper spray and the sound cannon against the MDP, the detainees later amnestied; the Journalists Association's case at the High Court of February 2026 and the petition of 4 May for repeal; the Reporters Without Borders index of 2026 marking the fall |
| The amendments of 2024 | The seventh amendment of 20 November 2024 — a member of the Majlis who leaves or is expelled from the party loses the seat, the anti-defection rule the opposition called a leash; the challenge heard by the reconstituted Supreme Court in 2026; the referendum law of 2025 that made the vote of April possible |
| Parliament | The People's Majlis — 93 members elected for five years from single-member constituencies, one for each 5,000 people; Abdul Raheem Abdulla (PNC) the Speaker since May 2024; the MDP and the PNF the opposition, the MDP boycotting sittings in 2026 |
| The next election | The presidential election in September or October 2028, Muizzu eligible for a second term; the Majlis in May 2029, the merger rejected |
| The presidents before | Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, 1978–2008, thirty years, the longest-serving leader in Asia at his fall; Mohamed Nasheed of the MDP, the first elected in a free vote, 2008–12, the underwater cabinet of 17 October 2009, resigned at gunpoint by his account on 7 February 2012, jailed in 2015, the Speaker of 2019–23, the bomb of 6 May 2021; Abdulla Yameen, 2013–18, the Chinese loans and the jail terms of his enemies, jailed himself in 2019 and 2022 and freed in 2024, the leader of the PNF; Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the MDP, 2018–23, "India First"; the presidency the office of all power in a country of one city |
| India and China | The "India Out" campaign of 2023 and the 76 Indian military personnel sent home by May 2024; Muizzu's first visit to Beijing in January 2024 and the "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership," the free trade agreement with China in force 1 January 2025, the Chinese debt of US$1.37 billion; then the turn — the state visit to Delhi of October 2024 and India's US$757 million of swaps and rollovers that averted the default, Modi the guest of the sixtieth independence day on 26 July 2025 with a line of credit of ₹4,850 crore, "a true friend"; the ban on Israeli passport holders of April 2025; the Commonwealth rejoined 1 February 2020; SAARC, a founder of 1985 |
| Legal system | Islamic law with English common law — the penal code of 2015 on the sharia, flogging for fornication, the death penalty on the books and unused since 1953; the Supreme Court of seven judges under Chief Justice Abdul Ghanee Mohamed; the Criminal Court's gag order of May 2026; the Judicial Service Commission the opposition wants remade |
| Local government | The councils of the 20 atolls, the four cities and the 187 islands under the Decentralization Act of 2010, elected 4 April 2026 with the MDP's sweep of Malé and the cities, Adam Azim the mayor of Malé, attacked at a protest on 24 April; the councils' powers and money the fight with the center since 2023; the Women's Development Committees |
| Defense | The Maldives National Defence Force of about 5,000 — the coast guard the heart of it, with the Indian-given patrol vessels, Dornier and helicopters flown by civilians since 2024, the Uthuru Thila Falhu harbor built with India; the Turkish drones of 2024; the police of the protests; the coup attempt of 3 November 1988 by Tamil mercenaries put down by India's Operation Cactus |
| United Nations | Member since 21 September 1965; the voice of the small island states on the climate — the Alliance of Small Island States, the Male' Declaration of 1989, Nasheed's cabinet under water; graduated from the least developed countries in 2011 |
| Other memberships | The Commonwealth (1982–2016 and since 2020); SAARC; the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; the Non-Aligned Movement; the Indian Ocean Rim Association; the WTO (1995); the Colombo Security Conclave with India and Sri Lanka |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$7.5 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$14,000 (2025) by the whole population — the highest in South Asia by far; about US$18,000 by the IMF's count of citizens |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$36,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 4% in 2025 and 0.7% forecast for 2026 by the World Bank, the Middle East war cutting the arrivals; the collapse of 33% in 2020 and the rebound of 37% in 2021; inflation about 4–5%; unemployment about 4.5% |
| Economy by sector | Services about 80% — tourism about 28% of GDP directly and most of the rest by its spending; industry about 15%; fishing and farming about 4% |
| Currency | Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR), pegged at 15.42 |
| Tourism | The "one island, one resort" rule since Kurumba opened on 3 October 1972 — about 170 resort islands, the guesthouses of the villages since 2009, the overwater villas; about 2.2 million arrivals in 2025, the record, China, Russia, India, Britain and Italy the sources, the Chinese first since 2024; the seaplanes; the tourism tax raised to 17% in 2025 and the green tax doubled; the arrivals fallen in 2026 with the war and the flights of the Gulf |
| Fishing | Tuna by pole and line, the skipjack and the yellowfin, the sustainable fishery of the MSC label — MIFCO the state buyer, the canneries of Felivaru and Kooddoo, the fishermen's unpaid bills the grievance of 2024–26 and the fuel subsidy the MDP's demand; the export of about US$150 million a year, to Thailand, Europe and Iran |
| The debt | Public debt 129.7% of GDP in 2025 by the World Bank — the Chinese loans of the Yameen years, US$1.37 billion, the Indian credit, the sukuk of US$500 million of 2021 that traded at 70 cents in 2024 on the fear of the world's first Islamic-bond default; the reserves at US$395 million in June 2024 and the currency limits of the Bank of Maldives; India's US$400 million and ₹3,000 crore swaps of October 2024; the sukuk repaid in full on 8 April 2026 with the reserves that had reached US$1.27 billion, the reserves at US$718 million after, 1.4 months of imports; the external debt service of US$1.7 billion due in 2026, nearly triple 2025's; the deficit toward 11% of GDP; the notes printed in 2024 and the dollar shortage of the shops; the Fitch and Moody's downgrades; "the economy is robust," the president said in March 2026, "we have sufficient funds" |
| Construction and the land | Hulhumalé, the reclaimed city of 2004 for 240,000; the Sinamalé Bridge of 2018; the Thilamalé Bridge of India, 6.7 km, to Villingili, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi, opening 2026; Ras Malé, the new island city of the Muizzu plan on the reef of Fushidhiggaru, the "safe island" for 65,000; the airport's new terminal; the Chinese and Indian contractors of the two camps |
| Public finances | The budget about US$3 billion, tourism taxes and the airport its revenue; the subsidies of food, fuel and power cut in the reforms of 2024–25 for targeted cash; the Aasandha health scheme; the state companies' debts paid from the Sovereign Development Fund; the IMF's warning of "high risk of debt distress" since 2022 |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank); graduated from least developed status in 2011 |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Velana International Airport on Hulhulé, of 1966, the new terminal of 2025 for 7 million passengers, the seaplane base beside it; Gan International in Addu, the RAF base of 1957–76; Hanimaadhoo of the north, enlarged by India; Maafaru of Noonu; the domestic strips of a dozen atolls |
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| Airlines | Maldivian, the airline of Island Aviation since 2000, the state carrier to the atolls, Trivandrum and Colombo; Trans Maldivian Airways, the largest seaplane operator in the world with some 60 Twin Otters, the Manta Air of the resorts; Emirates, Qatar Airways, IndiGo and the Chinese carriers the links |
| Main port | Malé Commercial Harbour, the country's door for all its food and fuel, to be moved to Gulhifalhu; Hithadhoo of Addu; Kulhudhuffushi; the supply dhonis of the atolls |
| Railways | None |
| Roads | About 90 km (56 mi) — the ring roads of Malé, Hulhumalé and Addu's link road; the Sinamalé Bridge of 2.1 km of 2018, China-built, from Malé to Hulhulé and Hulhumalé; the Thilamalé Bridge of India opening 2026; the motorbikes of Malé, the only traffic; the driving on the left |
| The sea | The dhoni, the boat of the islands, and the speedboats and ferries of the atolls; the seaplanes to the far resorts; the submarine cable of the internet; the tsunami of 2004 that swept the boats |
History in dates
| c. 500 BC | The first settlers from India and Ceylon — the Buddhist kingdom |
|---|---|
| 1153 | The king embraces Islam — the sultanate |
| 1343 | Ibn Battuta the chief judge of the islands |
| 1558 | The Portuguese take Malé |
| 1573 | Muhammad Thakurufaanu expels them — the National Day |
| 1645 | The Dutch of Ceylon as protectors |
| 1887 | The British protectorate, 16 December |
| 1932 | The first constitution |
| 1953 | The First Republic of Amin Didi, 1 January — the sultan restored, 1954 |
| 1959 | The Suvadive Republic of the south secedes, to 1963 |
| 1965 | Independence, 26 July |
| 1968 | The Second Republic, 11 November — Nasir |
| 1972 | The first resort, Kurumba, 3 October |
| 1978 | Gayoom president, 11 November — for thirty years |
| 1988 | The coup attempt, 3 November — Operation Cactus |
| 2004 | The tsunami, 26 December — 82 dead |
| 2008 | The Constitution, 7 August; Nasheed elected, 28 October |
| 2009 | The cabinet meets under water, 17 October |
| 2012 | Nasheed resigns, 7 February |
| 2013 | Yameen president, 17 November |
| 2018 | The state of emergency, 5 February; Solih elected, 23 September |
| 2020 | The Commonwealth rejoined, 1 February |
| 2021 | The bomb against Nasheed, 6 May |
| 2023 | Muizzu elected, 30 September; president, 17 November |
| 2024 | Beijing, January; the Majlis, 21 April; the Indian troops out, May; the Delhi visit and the swaps, October; the amendments, 20 November |
| 2025 | The China trade pact, 1 January; Modi's visit, 26 July; the media law, 18 September; the protests, 20 September |
| 2026 | The cartoon banned, 25 January; the referendum lost, 4 April; the protests, 7 April; the sukuk repaid, 8 April; ten ministers resign, 14 April; the journalists jailed, 12 May; the three presidents, 15 May |
Records & firsts
| The lowest country on earth | Mean 1.5 m; highest point 5 m |
|---|---|
| The flattest and most dispersed | 1,192 islands over 90,000 km² |
| The first cabinet meeting under water | 17 October 2009 |
| The largest seaplane fleet | Trans Maldivian Airways |
| One island, one resort | Since 1972 |
| A constitution of one faith | Citizens must be Muslim |
| The highest income per head in South Asia | About US$14,000 |
| The longest life expectancy in South Asia | About 81 years |
| The world's first Islamic-bond default, feared and not made | The sukuk repaid, 8 April 2026 |
| A referendum lost 69 to 31 | 4 April 2026 |
| Three former presidents against a fourth | 15 May 2026 |
| Thirty years of one president | Gayoom, 1978–2008 |
| The Thaana script | Letters made of numerals |
| The capital on two square kilometers | Malé |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of the Maldives?
The Republic of Maldives — Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa in Dhivehi, "the republic of the island kingdom of the Dhivehi people" — independent of Britain on 26 July 1965 after 78 years as a protectorate, a sultanate until the Second Republic of 11 November 1968, and a multiparty democracy under the Constitution of 7 August 2008. The name is the islanders' own: Dhivehi Raajje, the kingdom of the islanders, and Maldives from the Sanskrit or Tamil words for the garland of islands, maala dvipa, which the Arab sailors wrote as Mahal Dibiyat.
What is the capital of the Maldives?
Malé — the King's Island, the seat of the sultans for eight centuries and of the republic — a single island of two square kilometers at the southern tip of North Malé Atoll, built to its shore and up in concrete, with about 212,000 people counting the reclaimed island of Hulhumalé joined to it by bridge: one of the most crowded cities on earth, holding a third of the country on land the size of a village. The airport lies on Hulhulé across the bridge of 2018; the government has been reclaiming a new city at Ras Malé to relieve it. Addu City in the south, Fuvahmulah and Kulhudhuffushi are the other towns.
How big is the Maldives, and how many people live there?
About 298 km² (115 sq mi) of land — twice the size of Washington, D.C. — on 1,192 coral islands strung through 26 natural atolls along 870 km of the Indian Ocean southwest of India and Sri Lanka, across a sea of 90,000 km², the most dispersed country in the world; 187 islands hold villages and about 170 more hold a resort each. The census of 2022 counted 515,132 people, 382,751 of them Maldivians and 132,381 foreigners, most from Bangladesh and India; the estimate for 2026 is about 535,000, a third of them on Malé and its satellites.
What are the highest and lowest points of the Maldives?
A point of about 5 m (16 ft) on Villingili in Addu Atoll, the eighth tee of a golf course by the Factbook's count, and the mean height of the land 1.5 m — the lowest and flattest country on earth, four-fifths of it under a meter above the tide, the first nation the sea will cover if it rises as the science expects; and the Indian Ocean. The reclaimed island of Hulhumalé was built two meters up as a refuge; the tsunami of 2004 passed over most of the country. There are no rivers and no hills, only the reefs, the lagoons and the sand.
What currency does the Maldives use?
The Maldivian rufiyaa (ISO code MVR, Rf), of 100 laari, issued by the Maldives Monetary Authority since 1981 — pegged to the U.S. dollar at 15.42 since 2011, the dollar itself the money of the resorts and, on the street, worth far more rufiyaa than the peg allows in the shortage of 2024–26. Clocks keep Maldives Time, UTC+5, all year; the Maldives drives on the left; the working week runs Sunday to Thursday.
Who governs the Maldives?
President Mohamed Muizzu of the People's National Congress, head of state and government since 17 November 2023, the former mayor of Malé who won the runoff of 30 September 2023 with 54 percent on an "India Out" campaign and then, with the reserves nearly gone, turned back to India for the money that kept the country from default; his party took 75 of the 93 seats of the People's Majlis on 21 April 2024. His year of 2026 has been a hard one: the referendum of 4 April to merge the presidential and parliamentary elections was lost by 69 percent to 31 while the opposition swept the local councils, ten of his ministers resigned, and the nightly protests that began on 7 April over the media law, the jailing of two journalists and a documentary the courts barred from discussion have brought three former presidents together against him. The next presidential election is due in 2028.
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