Maldives - Country snapshot

Maldives was one of the world’s 20 poorest countries in the early 1980s. Three decades later, its inhabitants enjoy the same levels of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and human development outcomes as a middle-income country. Over the past 30 years, Maldives has successfully built on its extraordinary natural assets to promote growth and socioeconomic development. Maldives shares many of the development challenges of other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), such as: a small domestic market; a narrow and fragile resource base; a shortage of skilled manpower; difficult inter-island transport and communication; high cost of social and economic infrastructure provision; heavy dependence on external trade; and vulnerability to external shocks and natural disasters. These challenges are compounded, in the case of Maldives, by the country’s high geographic dispersion, with 1,190 coral islands (199 of which are inhabited) grouped in 26 atolls, spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometers. With more territorial sea than land, marine resources have played a vital role shaping the contours of economic development, with nature-based tourism being the key driver of economic growth and fisheries an important sector of employment for the local population. The development of a profitable high-end tourism sector has fueled sustained growth rates and supported public investments in health and education. Maldives’ model of economic development, could be more inclusive and its future sustainability is at stake.