Maldives

Maldives is an island nation scattered
in the Indian Ocean comprising 1,190 small coral islands of
which 190 are inhabited by a local population of 341,000.
Maldives’ unique archipelagic coral island provides the
country with an extremely rich and diverse marine ecological
system. 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. Maldives
developed a successful high-end tourism sector, whose
sizeable rents have been redistributed to the population to
address its development challenges. This systematic country
diagnostic for Maldives aims at identifying the most
critical constraints and opportunities facing the country as
it works towards promoting sustainable growth, reducing
poverty and boosting shared prosperity. In addition to
serving as a public good for the government, civil society,
research and academic community, and local and international
development partners, the findings of the SCD will be used
as key inputs in the preparation of the WBG strategy, the
Country Partnership Framework, which will outline how the
Bank Group’s engagement in Maldives can best contribute
towards achieving the twin goals.