Who we are: the 2022 census
Once every eight years or so, every person in the country is counted. These are the main things the latest count found about who lives in the Maldives, where, and how.
515,132
people living in the Maldives
▲ 113,061 more than in 2014
The population grew by 28% in eight years. Most of that growth was foreign workers, whose number more than doubled. One in every four people living in the country is now a foreigner.
382,639
Maldivians
Up 13% from 338,434 in 2014.
132,493
Foreigners
Up 108% from 63,637. Nine in ten are men.
41%
Live in Malé
211,908 people in the capital area, up from 153,904.
5.5
People per household
Across 94,424 households. In ordinary homes the average is 4.7.
Where people live
Malé’s share keeps growing. Hulhumalé alone went from about 17,100 people to about 65,700. More than half of the Maldivians who live in Malé are registered on another island.
54%
of Malé’s Maldivians are from elsewhere
85,077 of the 157,254 Maldivians who usually live in Malé are registered on another island.
52,482
live on resorts
Almost double the 28,367 in 2014. Seven in ten are foreign staff.
+5%
Maldivians on inhabited islands
Outside Malé and the resorts, the Maldivian population grew slowly: 195,539 to 205,312 in eight years.
4
atolls lost Maldivians
Vaavu, Gaafu Alif, Gaafu Dhaalu and Fuvahmulah have fewer Maldivian residents than in 2014.
A young country, with few elderly
Maldivians by age and sex. A quarter are under 15 and only one in twenty is 65 or older. The largest groups are people in their thirties.
There are noticeably fewer Maldivians aged 15 to 24 than aged 5 to 14 or 30 to 39.
Who does which jobs
300,422 people had work. Foreigners hold 43% of all jobs, and most of the jobs in construction and tourism. Government is the largest employer of Maldivians.
64%
of Maldivian adults work or want to
180,374 of 281,131 people aged 15 and over. The rest are studying, retired, or at home.
5.1%
Unemployed
9,244 Maldivians were looking for work and available to start.
85%
of construction workers are foreign
35,516 of 41,964.
1 in 6
working Maldivians is in government
26,829 in public administration and defence, not counting teachers and health workers.
School changed everything in two generations
Share of Maldivians who can read and write English, by age. Almost every teenager can; fewer than one in six people aged 65 and over can. In Dhivehi, 98.6% of people aged 10 and over are literate.
28,690
Maldivians with a degree
About one in ten adults.
58%
of graduates are women
16,583 women and 12,107 men hold a degree or higher.
Drinking water: Malé and the islands
Share of households whose drinking water is treated (bottled, desalinated or treated rainwater). On inhabited islands in the atolls, half of all households drink untreated rainwater.
Every atoll, 2014 and 2022
People counted on inhabited islands, not including resorts and industrial islands.
Who is counted
Everyone living in the Maldives, Maldivian or foreign, on whichever island they were counted. Tourists are not counted.
Why it matters
Census figures decide where schools, hospitals, housing and harbours are built, how budgets are shared between islands, and how constituencies are drawn.
It is a snapshot
These figures describe September 2022. The population has changed since, and the next census will show by how much.