Guide
How small is a local island, really
From 198 residents to 13,759 — the islands share a label and almost nothing else. What the population figure tells you before you book.
3 min read · Figures checked 1 August 2026
On a resort island the population is the staff. On an inhabited island it is a village that was there long before tourism and will be there after, and its size decides more about your week than the photographs ever will.
The islands on this site range from 198 residents on Fehendhoo to 13,759 on Hithadhoo — a factor of 69. Both are called local islands. They are not the same holiday.
What the numbers actually mean
An island of a few hundred people has one shop, perhaps two places to eat, and a single stretch of designated beach. You will recognise faces by the third day. Nobody is anonymous, which is either the appeal or the problem depending on what you came for.
An island of a few thousand has a choice of cafés, a dive centre or three, a harbour with scheduled boats, and enough other visitors that you are unremarkable. It also has traffic, building work and a main street.
The median island here holds 997 people. 13 of the 25 village islands we cover have fewer than a thousand residents.
The islands by size
| Island | Residents | Stays | Bikini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hithadhoo | 13,759 | 20 | yes |
| Fuvahmulah | 9,177 | 19 | — |
| Maafushi | 4,471 | 23 | yes |
| Hanimaadhoo | 2,664 | 13 | yes |
| Mahibadhoo | 2,580 | 9 | — |
| Velidhoo | 1,832 | 6 | — |
| Thulusdhoo | 1,801 | 23 | yes |
| Guraidhoo | 1,743 | 18 | yes |
| Huraa | 1,654 | 19 | yes |
| Ukulhas | 1,284 | 23 | yes |
| Rasdhoo | 1,282 | 18 | yes |
| Dhiffushi | 1,270 | 26 | yes |
| Dharavandhoo | 997 | 15 | yes |
| Gulhi | 976 | 14 | yes |
| Dhangethi | 936 | 18 | yes |
| Omadhoo | 913 | 19 | yes |
| Mathiveri | 878 | 20 | yes |
| Dhigurah | 761 | 29 | — |
| Bodufolhudhoo | 704 | 7 | yes |
| Keyodhoo | 641 | 16 | yes |
| Goidhoo | 583 | 7 | yes |
| Fulidhoo | 400 | 23 | yes |
| Fulhadhoo | 341 | 18 | yes |
| Thinadhoo | 258 | 14 | yes |
| Fehendhoo | 198 | 8 | yes |
Malé (211,908) and Hulhumalé (65,714) sit outside this table. They are urban — the capital and its reclaimed neighbour, among the most densely populated places on earth — and belong in a trip as a night at either end, not as the trip itself.
How to read this before choosing
Population is a proxy, not a verdict. A small island is quiet, cheap and limited; a larger one is convenient, livelier and less intimate. Neither is better, and the mistake is assuming that "local island" describes a single experience.
Two things are worth checking alongside the number: whether the island has a designated bikini beach, and how many guesthouses it holds — an island with three has no fallback if yours disappoints, and an island with twenty-five has a season.
Where these figures come from
Population figures are the 2022 census of the Maldives National Bureau of Statistics, recorded per island with the date they were checked. Guesthouse counts are what we hold on file and are a floor, not a total — a house we cannot verify is not counted. Bikini-beach status is marked only where we could confirm it; a dash means unverified, never "no".
We have not stayed on every island here. Where a figure would have required a guess, it is absent instead.