Maldives: Population living in slums (% of urban population)

Key figures

Since 2004 it is down 6.69 percentage points from 41.54% in 2004. The World Bank has no value for 9 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

How it compares

In 2022, Maldives had the 61st highest value of the 153 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Maldives in the 2022 ranking

• Gambia, The — 58th of 153: 37.08%
• Burundi — 59th of 153: 36.75%
• Philippines — 60th of 153: 35.87%
• Samoa — 62nd of 153: 34.59%
• Timor-Leste — 63rd of 153: 33.92%
• Ghana — 64th of 153: 33.49%

What this measures

Population living in slums is the proportion of the urban population living in slum households. A slum household is defined as a group of individuals living under the same roof lacking one or more of the following conditions: access to improved water, access to improved sanitation, sufficient living area, housing durability, and security of tenure, as adopted in the Millennium Development Goal Target 7.D. The successor, the Sustainable Development Goal 11.1.1, considers inadequate housing (housing affordability) to complement the above definition of slums/informal settlements.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 10 values

Population living in slums (% of urban population) in nearby economies

• Bangladesh — 51.51% (2022)
• Bhutan — 44.69% (2022)
• Nepal — 40.06% (2022)
• Sri Lanka — 44.69% (2022)

More environment data for Maldives

• Rural population — 304,531 (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 57.49% (2025)
• Urban population — 225,145 (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 42.51% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 9 (2024)
• Capture fisheries production (metric tons) — 107,414 (2024)
• Total fisheries production (metric tons) — 107,423 (2024)
• Rural population growth (annual %) — -0.52% (2025)
• Urban population growth (annual %) — 1.56% (2025)
• Agricultural land (sq. km) — 59 (2024)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Maldives's population living in slums (% of urban population)?

34.85% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2004?

It is down 6.69 percentage points from 41.54% in 2004. The highest value was 41.54% in 2004 and the lowest 34.85% in 2020.

How does Maldives rank?

61st highest of 153 economies with data for 2022.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Urban Indicators Database, UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), uri: https://data.unhabitat.org/.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator EN.POP.SLUM.UR.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Urban Indicators Database, UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), uri: https://data.unhabitat.org/ Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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