Maldives

The Maldives, a chain of island atolls in the Indian Ocean south of India, is one of the very few places in the world with no institutional Catholic presence. Islam is defined in the constitution as the state religion. It prohibits any law deemed contrary to Sunni interpretation of Islam. Public conversion to other faiths is culturally impossible. Some Catholics from abroad work in embassies and other settings, and come there as tourists for the islands’ celebrated beaches, but there is no public Catholic practice there. Even foreigners who visit and work there have no organized venues for religious practice, outside of embassy compounds.

Demographics

  • 1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition.
  • 2.United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 revision.
  • 3.United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Homicide Statistics 2015.
  • 4.Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.
  • 5.UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 2016.
  • 6. Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022).
  • 7.World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report, 2016.

Footnotes