Regions and Countries

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p. 3 of 19 BACK | NEXT I. Country Performance Assessment A. Economic Performance Assessment B. Poverty Assessment C. Assessment of Socio-Environmental Performance D. Governance: Sound Development Management E. Implementation Assessment II. Country Operational Strategy III. Sector Strategies IV. Regional Cooperation V. Donor Activities and Aid Coordination VI. Cofinancing and Catalyzing External Resources VII. ADB’s Operational Program VIII. Economic and Sector Work Program IX. Local Cost Financing

Country Assistance Plans - Maldives : I. Country Performance Assessment

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B. Poverty Assessment

7. Despite strong economic growth in the last two decades, poverty still exists in Maldives. About 74 percent of the Maldives’ population reside in the outer islands. Their livelihoods depend on small agriculture, fisheries, and limited public sector employment. Although an official poverty line has not yet been established for Maldives, the recent report by the Government, Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment² indicates that income poverty is widespread in Maldives, though with higher incidence in the outer atolls. About 22 percent of Maldives’ population is estimated to be below the income poverty line of Rf10 per person per day ($0.85). The incidence of income poverty rises to 43 percent of the population when based on a higher income poverty line of Rf15 per person per day ($1.27). In Malé, the incidence of poverty for both income poverty lines is less than half of what is found in the outer atolls. The poverty assessment further indicates large differences between Malé and the outer atolls in access to basic social and infrastructure services including education, health, water supply and sanitation, electrification and inter-island transportation services. The lack of access to employment opportunities (outside of fishing) is a contributing factor to poverty in remote islands. The Government accords high priority to the regional development as part of its overall plan to ensure more equitable geographic distribution of economic and social benefits derived from growth (especially the tourism which has largely centered in the central Malé region). However, it remains a major challenge for the Government to provide adequate essential services for the island populations due to the highly dispersed nature of the country and diseconomies of scale in production, transport, and provision of essential social and infrastructure services.

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