As of 9:00 am of January 3, 2005, the death toll in the Maldives amounted to 82, with 26 missing. 76 of the dead were Maldivians. 13,311 Maldivians were displaced and 8,352 relocated. 3 among the dead were foreigners and 3 Maldivian expatriates died in the disaster. Among the deceased, the oldest was 89 years old and the youngest only one month.

The spokesperson of the government Dr. Ahmed Shaheed indicated that compared with other disaster-hit countries, the economic losses of Maldives were most serious because all the other countries are only affected partially while Maldives is suffering from the tsunami across the country with the whole nation coming to a standstill. Maldives is highly dependent on tourism. 46 out of the 87 resort islands were hit by the disaster, 9 islands have been completely evacuated and it will take months for the 19 worst-hit resort islands to be rebuilt. The government is deeply upset about the mid- and long-term impact caused by the tsunami. Only one week before the outbreak of the disaster, Maldives was still complacent about being delisted by the UN from the least developed countries. The economic growth rate of Maldives in 2004 was 8.8%, higher than expected, but the 25 years of efforts were wiped out by the tsunami and turned into naught within minutes. Experts are still evaluating the losses, which are expected to top more than 1 billion US dollars. When the tsunami hit Maldives, about 17,000 tourists were taking vacation in the country. Now the figure is only 10,000 with a taking-up rate of 61%, not up to 90% of the average level of the same period of previous years.