only 3 percent of islands have a population over The Republic of Maldives is a small island nation with a total of islands are populated, 104 are resorts, 37 have been developed as industrial island. The country stretches 823 km North to South and 130 km East to West. The sea forms over 99 percent of Maldives. Most of the islands are very small and can be walked around in 10 to 20 minutes. Currently there are 72 islands with a population less than 500 people.

The Maldives was converted to Islam in 1153 AD. Pre Islamic data suggests that Buddhism was the prevailing religion in the country. The Maldives has been an independent state for most of its history. The Maldives become British protectorate in 1887 and remained so until independence on 26 July 1965.

The highly scattered nature of populations poses various challenges for the Ministry of Education to provide equal opportunity to access universal education for whole population of Maldives.

We have 100 schools which has less than 75 students in the school enrollment. We have 50 schools which has less than 40 students in the school enrollment.

Department of national planning (DNP) collects national statistics and every five year DNP publishes national census book. DNP conducted household surveys however the categorization on R&D was not noted. DNP has not conducted a stand-alone survey on R&D and innovation statistics. Reference to the meeting held here (DNP) on your request for S&T and R&D Statistics, currently we do not have any data compiled on it. However you could also confirm with NCIT, whether they do have any on this. Best rgds

Enabling better understanding of S&T structure. Enabling better understanding of the impact of policies and programs on it. Helping to describe the science and technology system. Enabling to evaluate the impact of science and technology on society and the economy.

S&T data are not readily available in Maldives. If they were available, they are not in systematic manner or not complete. There is no standard method to collect data of S&T. Unaware of international classifications and concepts.

Maldivian government has taken important steps to collect data for science and technology indicators. NCIT is under establishment. DNP with collaboration of NCIT can identify S&T indicators.

Department of national planning (DNP) collected data for national census. From available data we can classified into 3 parts. 1- Number of staffs to DNP. 2- College Staffs Both private and government. 3- Knowledge indicators.