Maldives
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Malé
- Population
- 388,858 (2024 est.)
- Area
- 298 sq km
- Government
- presidential republic
- Languages
- Dhivehi (official, closely related to Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English (spoken by most government officials)
- Religions
- Sunni Muslim (official)
- Ethnic Groups
- homogeneous mixture of Sinhalese, Dravidian, Arab, Australasian, and African resulting from historical changes in regional hegemony over marine trade routes
- Currency
- rufiyaa (MVR)
- Life Expectancy
- 77.4 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .mv
- Climate
- tropical; hot, humid; dry, northeast monsoon (November to March); rainy, southwest monsoon (June to August)
- Terrain
- flat coral atolls, with white sandy beaches; sits atop the submarine volcanic Chagos-Laccadive Ridge
- Natural Resources
- fish
- Major Exports
- fish, aircraft, refined petroleum, scrap iron, natural gas (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
A sultanate since the 12th century, the Maldives became a British protectorate in 1887 and a republic in 1968, three years after independence.