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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Maldivians of Maldives

The Maldivians of Maldives, numbering approximately 568,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group indigenous to the Maldive Islands. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Dhivehi is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Maldivian

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Maldives
People Cluster: Maldivian
Primary Language(s): Dhivehi (div)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 568,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG006164
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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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dhivehi
Language Family: Indo-European

98%
%
Maldivian Speakers

Media Resources in Dhivehi:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Dhivehi:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Dhivehi bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

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.

Next steps for the Maldivians:
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

Pray specifically for the Maldivians of Maldives

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life"
readJohn 4:13-14

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will drink of the living water that only Christ can provide and never thirst again.

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
read1 John 4:21

Pray that the good news of God's love will reach everyone in this people group, and that His love will compel them to love others as Christ has loved us.

Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
readPsalm 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and still struggle with the worries of this life, God will deliver them from worry for the sake of His steadfast love.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MaldiviansPG006164MaldiviansMaldives568,000Engaged yet UnreachedDhivehiSunni Islam

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 Data Standards section.

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