As of 12 a.m., December 29, 2004, the tsunami death toll in the Maldives topped 67 among which 61 were Maldivians, and 75 people are still missing with 72 being Maldivians. 10000 to 12000 people lost their houses. 4 among the dead were foreign tourists and 2 among those unaccounted for. Two Maldivian expatriates died and one is missing. As of December 28, amongst the 87 tourism islands across the Maldives, 56 are in full operation, accounting for 64% of the national total; 14 are semi-operational, occupying 16%; and 17 were closed, taking up 20%. As of December 27, among the over 200 resident islands in the Maldives, 37 are in shortage of water and power with the sewage system and infrastructure having been almost totally destroyed. 78 islands were impaired moderately, with the architectures along the coast and some rooms damaged. 6 islands have seen all the architectures on them wiped out by the waves and residents of 13 islands have been completely evacuated. Some islands have not been reached up to now.

The Maldivian government declared national mourning with flags flying at half-mast as of December 27, and an indefinite postponement of the parliamentary election originally slated for December 31. The spokesperson of the government Dr. Ahmed Shaheed estimated that the economic losses inflicted by the tsunami disaster on the Maldives might run into several hundred million US dollars, possibly exceeding the country's GDP of the whole year (The Maldives is mainly dependent on tourism and fishery, with the annual GDP standing at around 660 million US dollars). Over the past couple of years, Maldives has made considerable progress in improving its people's livelihood, which was recognized by the United Nations, but efforts of the years may be turned into dust and ashes with this single tsunami disaster.