Demographics of Maldives

This article is about the demographic features of the population of the Maldives, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

The Maldives had one of the highest birth rates in the world. The result is that many islands have become overpopulated and are completely covered by homesteads. Hence the country is becoming less self-sufficient by the day.

Structure of the population (21.03.2006) (Census) :

Structure of the population (01.07.2013) (Estimates) :

Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and CBR (Crude Birth Rate):

The largest ethnic group are Dhivehis, native to the historic region of the Maldive Islands comprising today's Republic of Maldives and the island of Minicoy in Union territory of Lakshadweep, India. They share the same culture and speak the Dhivehi language. They are principally an Indo-Aryan people, closely related to the Sinhalese having traces of Middle Eastern, South Asian, Austronesian and African genes in the population.

In the past there was also a small Tamil population known as the Giraavaru people. This group have now been almost completely absorbed into the larger Maldivian society but were once native to the island of Giraavaru (Kaafu Atoll). This island was evacuated in 1968 due to heavy erosion of the island.

Dhivehi, an Indo-Aryan language having some similarities with Elu, the ancient Sinhalese language and written in a specialized Arabic script (Tāna), is the official language and is spoken by virtually the whole population. English is also spoken as a second language by many.

...
Wikipedia