Country
Seychelles Maldives
Leader
Population
90,024 394,451
Life Expectancy
73.770 years 74.690 years
Capital City
Victoria Male
Largest city
Victoria (population: 22,881) Male (population: 84,972)
Human Development Index
0.836 0.749 GDP per capita $25,000 US $8,800 US
Literacy Rate
91.8% 96.3%
Corruption Perception Index
4.8 2.8
Percentage of Women in Parliament
23.5% 12% Wealthiest Citizens Unemployment Rate 2.000% 14.500%
Death Penalty
Abolished Abolished in practice
Political System
republic republic
Independence date
29 June 1976 (from UK) 26 July 1965 (from UK) Religions Roman Catholic 82.3%, Anglican 6.4%, Seventh Day Adventist 1.1%, other Christian 3.4%, Hindu 2.1%, Muslim 1.1%, other non-Christian 1.5%, unspecified 1.5%, none 0.6% (2002 census) Sunni Muslim Languages Creole 91.8%, English 4.9% (official), other 3.1%, unspecified 0.2% (2002 census) Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials Exports canned tuna, frozen fish, cinnamon bark, copra, petroleum products (reexports) fish External Debt $1,470,000,000 $ $943,000,000 US Exchange Rate Seychelles rupees (SCR) per US dollar - 8 (2008 est.), 6.5 (2007), 5.5 (2006), 5.5 (2005), 5.5 (2004) 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 2.000% 5.500% Beijing Olympics Medal Count Location archipelago in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar Southern Asia, group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India Area 455 km sq 298 km sq Coastline 491 km 644 km Climate tropical marine; humid; cooler season during southeast monsoon (late May to September); warmer season during northwest monsoon (March to May) tropical; hot, humid; dry, northeast monsoon (November to March); rainy, southwest monsoon (June to August)
