What would a basic income cost in the Maldives?
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Total cost per year
5.53 billion Maldivian rufiyaas
about 359 million US dollars
529,676 people × 870 Maldivian rufiyaas a month × 12 months
Compared with
- Government expense (central) (2021)15.7%
- Government revenue (central, excl. grants) (2021)18.7%
- Tax revenue (central government) (2021)23.8%
- GDP (nominal) (2025)4.6%
The Maldives in numbers
The Maldives has a population of 529,676 (2025) and a GDP of 119 billion Maldivian rufiyaas (about 7.74 billion US dollars) in 2025.
Paying everyone 870 Maldivian rufiyaas a month would cost 5.53 billion Maldivian rufiyaas a year (about 359 million US dollars), or 4.6% of GDP. That equals 15.7% of central government expense (2021), 18.7% of its revenue (2021), and 23.8% of its tax revenue (2021).
Children only (under 18: 123,060) would cost 1.28 billion Maldivian rufiyaas a year (1.1% of GDP); adults only (18 and over: 406,616), 4.25 billion Maldivian rufiyaas (3.6%).
Default amount: 870 Maldivian rufiyaas a month is the World Bank's international poverty line of $3.00 a day (2021 PPP), converted into Maldivian rufiyaas with the World Bank's PPP conversion factor for household consumption (2025) and rounded to two significant figures. It is a reference point, not a policy proposal; change it above.
How to read this
This is the gross cost: the total paid out. The real net cost depends on which taxes fund it, which benefits or tax breaks it replaces and whether the payment is taxed. The population, budget and GDP figures are not all from the same year (see the sources).
Sources for the figures
- Population
- World Bank: population, total (SP.POP.TOTL), and population by single year of age 0 to 17 (SP.POP.AG00.FE.IN … SP.POP.AG17.MA.IN), 2025
- SP.POP.AG00.FE.IN … SP.POP.AG17.MA.IN
- Government expense and tax revenue
- World Bank: central government expense, revenue excluding grants and tax revenue, % of GDP (GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS, GC.REV.XGRT.GD.ZS, GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS), 2021
- Default amount
- World Bank: international poverty line of $3.00 a day (2021 PPP), June 2025 update
- World Bank: PPP conversion factor, household final consumption (PA.NUS.PRVT.PP), 2025
- Retrieved from the World Bank API on November 9, 2026 (CC BY 4.0). Government figures are central government, as a share of GDP in their own year, applied to the latest GDP.