Do more people live in urban or rural areas? in Maldives
Maldives: Do more people live in urban or rural areas? was 42.5% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? in Maldives, 1950–2025
Source: HYDE (2023); United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2025, do more people live in urban or rural areas? in Maldives stood at 42.5%. That is the highest value across all 76 years on record.
That represents a change of up 1.2% on the previous year and up 10.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, do more people live in urban or rural areas? in Maldives peaked at 42.5% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 10.7%, in 1950.
Maldives ranks 183rd of 238 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 76 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 11.1% | 10.7% | 11.3% | 10 |
| 1960s | 11.4% | 11.3% | 11.6% | 10 |
| 1970s | 16.9% | 11.9% | 22.0% | 10 |
| 1980s | 25.0% | 22.8% | 25.8% | 10 |
| 1990s | 25.9% | 25.5% | 27.0% | 10 |
| 2000s | 32.7% | 27.6% | 36.4% | 10 |
| 2010s | 38.4% | 36.8% | 40.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 41.4% | 40.4% | 42.5% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Maldives
More reference data data for Maldives
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Consumer price index 150.41 2010 = 100 (2025)
- Universal right to vote 2 (2025)
- Competitive elections 1 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
- Elected parliament 1 (2025)
- Chief executive of the government is elected 1 (2025)
- Democracy 6 (2025)
- Civil liberties rating 5 (2025)
- Free country 1 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is do more people live in urban or rural areas? in Maldives?
- Do more people live in urban or rural areas? in Maldives was 42.5% in 2025, according to HYDE (2023); United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest do more people live in urban or rural areas? recorded in Maldives?
- The highest recorded value was 42.5% in 2025.
- What is the lowest do more people live in urban or rural areas? recorded in Maldives?
- The lowest recorded value was 10.7% in 1950.
- How does Maldives rank for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Maldives ranks 183rd out of 238 countries with data for 2025.
- Is do more people live in urban or rural areas? rising or falling in Maldives?
- Over the last ten years it is up 10.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Maldives data come from?
- The figures come from HYDE (2023); United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Do more people live in urban or rural areas?. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 76 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Share of the population living in urban areas, combining UN estimates with modelled historical data.