Inhabited islands - those officially recognized as towns, villages, fishing, and farming communities with permanent human habitation. They all have an island office and island chiefs (councilor and"katheeb").[2]
Uninhabited islands - islands with no permanent human habitations. They are sometimes used for agricultural and industrial purposes, and more recently as tourist resorts and picnic islands. Some of these islands are valuable breeding grounds for various species of seabirds and sea turtles.
Disappeared islands - islands which during recorded history, have been completely eroded away, claimed by the sea due to thesea level rise or assimilated by other islands. Some of these islands were previously inhabited and have been important in the history of the country. Somenatural atolls are named after them (islands ofThiladhoo andAddu after which Thiladhunmati and Addu atoll are named respectively) while others are thought to have been the sites of the first settlements in the Maldives (Ihadhoo- meaningseen first and possibly the first settlement of the Maldives).[3]
This list ranks the top 10 islands of the Maldives by area.
Some islands in the Maldives, although geographically one island, are divided into two administrative islands (for example,Gan andMaandhoo inLaamu Atoll). For such cases, this list ranks the entire (combined) area of the geographical island.
Inland water bodies such as lakes and ponds are included in the total area.
Note: The combined area ofMalé,Hulhulé andHulhumalé exceeds 9 km2, which surpasses the area of the largest natural island in the Maldives. However, these three together are considered to be a city, not an island.
List of inhabited islands and districts by population
Taking into consideration the geography of the island along with its size and population, the 8 wards ofFuvahmulah are officially recognised as administrative divisions which act as the replacement for islands in other atolls. They areDhadimago,Diguvāndo,Hōdhado,Mādhado,Miskimmago,Funādo,Mālegan,Dūndigan. For each ward a chief ('Katheeb') was appointed as in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the respective ward and held accountable for an Atoll chief. According to the Decentralisation Act 2010 an island council too have to be elected for each division of the island. There was formerly a ninth ward namedDhashokubaa which was merged with Miskimmago.[7]
