Maldives

AsiaCapital city: MaleCapital metro: MaléPrime Minister: Mohamed MuizzuPresident: Mohamed Muizzu
2026 population
515K
Rank #178 globally
Area
300 km² (116 sq mi)
Metros tracked
1
35% of population in metros
Composite score
0.3
Rank #218 globally

population: 2022 census (13 Sep 2022) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 1 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography1 metro

Maldives metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
1 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 1 tracked metro
1 metros
#2271Malé★ Capital▲ Largest
0.3
🗂️ Atolls

21 entries listed under Maldives. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

21 total
📋 At a glance
Official language
Maldivian
Legislature
People's Majlis
Demonym
Maldivian
Time zone
UTC+05:00
Driving side
Left
Calling code
+960
Internet TLD
.mv
ISO 3166
MV
Established
1965
Highest point
Villingili (5 m (16 ft))
National anthem
Gaumiii salaaam

Facts via Wikidata.

💹 Economy and developmentUpper middle income
Human Dev. Index
#93 / 191
0.766
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#157 / 193
$7.7B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#70 / 193
$14.6k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#72 / 190
$28.6k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#72 / 192
$12.9k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#37 / 194
81.3 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
31.1 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#147 / 194
43%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
0.4%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#4 / 193
1765/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#45 / 193
14.2%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#58 / 175
0.76
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#27 / 166
29.3
World Bank · 2019
Internet users
#80 / 193
85%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#124 / 185
4.0%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#129 / 192
4.4 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#155 / 186
7%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations3 full memberships

Political & Economic

Regional

Subregional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History12 leaders · click to expand

marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.

Mohamed Muizzu✦ Current

2023Present

President

Tenure: 2y 7m 16d

Mohamed Muizzu✦ Current

2023Present

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 7m 16d

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

20182023

President

Tenure: 5y 0d

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

20182023

Prime Minister

Tenure: 5y 0d

Abdulla Yameen

20132018

President

Tenure: 5y 0d

Mohamed Waheed Hassan

20122013

President

Tenure: 1y 9m 10d

Mohamed Nasheed

20082012

President

Tenure: 3y 2m 27d

Mohamed Nasheed

20082012

Prime Minister

Tenure: 3y 2m 27d

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

19782008

President

Tenure: 30y 0d

Ibrahim Nasir

19681978

President

Tenure: 10y 0d

Ibrahim Nasir

19681978

Prime Minister

Tenure: 10y 0d

Mohamed Amin Didi

19531953

President

Tenure: 8m 1d
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#208 · 0.0%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Maldives · share of world power, 1965–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
526k
#174 in the world
Since 1800
12×
from 42k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.01%
0.00% in 1800
133k266k399k532k18001850190019502000
Maldives · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Maldives: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
2057
597k on the UN median
2050
590k
95% band 397k to 829k
2100
475k
95% band 158k to 1.7m
2100 against 2025
0.90×
median falling from 2058
Deaths outnumber births
from 2058
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
456k913k1.4m1.8m1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
3k born · 2k died · 0 net migration
TFR 6.18 · life expectancy 36.5 · median age 17.4
1960
5k born · 2k died · -32 net migration
TFR 6.71 · life expectancy 38.2 · median age 19.6
1970
6k born · 2k died · +330 net migration
TFR 7.39 · life expectancy 44.5 · median age 16.2
1980
8k born · 2k died · -903 net migration
TFR 7.23 · life expectancy 54.8 · median age 15.8
1990
9k born · 2k died · -271 net migration
TFR 6.13 · life expectancy 63.1 · median age 15.4
2000
6k born · 1k died · +300 net migration
TFR 2.69 · life expectancy 70.9 · median age 17.7
2010
8k born · 1k died · +6k net migration
TFR 2.35 · life expectancy 76.8 · median age 23.4
2020
6k born · 1k died · +10k net migration
TFR 1.61 · life expectancy 78.7 · median age 29.1
Show all 16 decades
2030
5k born · 1k died · -1k net migration
TFR 1.52 · life expectancy 82.6 · median age 36.5
2040
5k born · 2k died · -94 net migration
TFR 1.52 · life expectancy 84.4 · median age 44.0
2050
5k born · 3k died · -32 net migration
TFR 1.54 · life expectancy 85.9 · median age 49.4
2060
5k born · 5k died · +139 net migration
TFR 1.55 · life expectancy 87.2 · median age 50.7
2070
5k born · 8k died · +30 net migration
TFR 1.56 · life expectancy 88.3 · median age 53.2
2080
5k born · 9k died · +232 net migration
TFR 1.56 · life expectancy 89.4 · median age 51.5
2090
4k born · 8k died · +173 net migration
TFR 1.57 · life expectancy 90.5 · median age 47.6
2100
4k born · 6k died · +41 net migration
TFR 1.58 · life expectancy 91.6 · median age 47.7

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

Maldives on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.