constitutional government in free association with the US; the Compact of Free Association entered into force 21 October 1986 and the Amended Compact entered into force in May 2004
Independence date
26 July 1965 (from UK)
Religions
Sunni Muslim
Protestant 54.8%, Assembly of God 25.8%, Roman Catholic 8.4%, Bukot nan Jesus 2.8%, Mormon 2.1%, other Christian 3.6%, other 1%, none 1.5% (1999 census)
Languages
Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials
Marshallese (official) 98.2%, other languages 1.8% (1999 census) note: English (official), widely spoken as a second language
Exports
fish
External Debt
$890,800,000 $
Exchange Rate
rufiyaa (MVR) per US dollar - NA (2007), 12.8 (2006), 12.8 (2005), 12.8 (2004), 12.8 (2003)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
5.000%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Southern Asia, group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India
Oceania, two archipelagic island chains of 29 atolls, each made up of many small islets, and five single islands in the North Pacific Ocean, about half way between Hawaii and Australia
Area
298 km sq
181 km sq
Coastline
644 km
370 km
Climate
tropical; hot, humid; dry, northeast monsoon (November to March); rainy, southwest monsoon (June to August)
tropical; hot and humid; wet season May to November; islands border typhoon belt
