Country · Asia
Maldives
Republic of the Maldives
Maldives is a country in Southern Asia. Its capital city is Malé. About 516 thousand people live there, in an area of 300 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Akuujang (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Samee Shafeeg (CC BY 3.0) · Laika ac (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Maldives?
Maldives lies in Southern Asia, on the continent of Asia.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 362 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 644 km long.
It has no land neighbours — every border it has is with the sea.
How big is Maldives?
Maldives covers 300 square kilometres.
Luxembourg is about 8.6 times bigger.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 186th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 1 719 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Maldives?
About 516 thousand people live in Maldives.
That is the 166th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Maldivian.
They pay with the Maldivian rufiyaa (.ރ).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 62 years.
The land of Maldives
The land in Maldives sits on average 2 metres above sea level, which makes it one of the flatter countries on Earth.
Its coast runs for about 644 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 32 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Maldives different?
Websites from here often end in .mv.
Maldives and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0.1 live in Maldives.
It takes up about 0 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Asia it is the 46th largest of 46 countries, and the 45th most populated.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 1 live wild in Maldives: Giant oceanic manta ray.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Maldives?
The capital of Maldives is Malé. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Maldives?
About 516 thousand people live in Maldives, which makes it the 166th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
How big is Maldives?
Maldives covers 300 square kilometres, making it the 186th largest country in the world. Luxembourg is about 8.6 times bigger.
Which continent is Maldives in?
Maldives is in Asia, in the part called Southern Asia.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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