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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Maldivians of Maldives

The Maldivians of Maldives, numbering approximately 561,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group indigenous to the Maldive Islands. They are an Indigenous people, in the Sinhala people cluster of the South Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Maldivian.

Maldivians in Maldives photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Andrea Izzotti - Shutterstock Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Maldives
People Cluster: Sinhala
Primary Language(s): Maldivian (div)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 561,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG006164
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Maldivians of Maldives

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Maldivian
Language Family: Indo-European

%
Maldivian Speakers

Media Resources in Maldivian:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Maldivian:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Maldivian bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Maldivians

The Maldivians are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Maldivians

The Maldivians are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Maldivians

The Maldivians are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Maldivians of Maldives

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
read1 Chronicles 16:26

Pray that those among them who are lost and seeking after worthless idols will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news, seeing that Jesus is better than any idol.

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
readActs 6:7

Pray that the Word of God will be increasingly available to these people in ways they will resonate with so that all may have a chance to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.  

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
read1 Peter 2:25

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will proclaim the good news and the lost will recognize their need for the Shepherd and turn to Jesus Christ in faith.

Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
readPsalm 149:3

Pray that God will send His people across cultures to share the gospel so that those who don't yet know the truth about Him might praise His name and share the hope of Christ with others.

Maldivian (ROP3 - 106169) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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