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Maldives SOCIETY
Population
Based on the 1990 census, the population was 213,215.
The
country's population in mid-1994 was estimated at 252,077.
The
high 1994 birthrate of 44 per 1,000 will lead to a
population of
more than 300,000 by the year 2000 and 400,000 by 2020.
Although
the high population growth rate was a serious problem,
Maldives
lacks an official birth control policy. The population
growth
rate also poses problems for the country's future food
supply
because the dietary staple of rice is not grown in the
islands
and must be imported.
The largest concentration of Maldives' population is in
Male,
a small island of approximately two square kilometers,
whose 1990
population of 55,130 represented slightly more than 25
percent of
the national total. Giving meaningful average population
density
is difficult because many of Maldives' approximately 1,200
islands are uninhabited. Of the approximately 200
inhabited
islands in 1988, twenty-eight had fewer than 200
inhabitants, 107
had populations ranging from 200 to 500, and eight had
populations between 500 and 1,000. A government study in
the mid1980s listed twenty-five places with a population of more
than
1,000. Maldives has few towns besides the capital of Male.
Villages comprise most of the settlements on the inhabited
islands. The 1990 census recorded an average population
density
for the Maldives of 706 persons per square kilometer.
The first accurate census was held in December 1977 and
showed 142,832 persons residing in Maldives, an increase
of 37
percent over a 1967 estimate. The next census in March
1985
showed 181,453 persons, consisting of 94,060 males and
87,393
females. This pattern has continued in Maldives, with the
1990
census listing 109,806 males and 103,409 females.
Despite rapid population growth, family planning
programs in
Maldives did not begin in a well-funded and planned manner
until
the UN implemented several programs in the 1980s. These
programs
focused on improving health standards among the islanders,
including family planning education emphasizing the
spacing of
births and raising the customary age of marriage among
adolescents. Abortion was not a legally accepted method
for child
spacing in Maldives. In the mid-1980s, a World Health
Organization (WHO) program monitored the extent and use of
various contraceptive methods over a four-year period. As
of the
early 1990s, the government had taken no overt actions
toward
limiting the number of children per couple or setting
target
population goals.
Data as of August 1994
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