The Maldives is the world's lowest country, averaging only about 1.5 m above sea level. Toggle the sea-level plane to see how little freeboard the reef rims have, and the lagoon depth bands to compare shallow rim water against the deeper lagoon floor.
Published figures: about 1,192 coral islands grouped into 26 natural atolls forming a double chain, average ground elevation about 1.5 m above sea level, capital Male, located in the Indian Ocean south-southwest of India and Sri Lanka.
Drag to orbit and scroll or pinch to zoom. Everything renders on your device with WebGL.
Maldives Atolls 3D Explorer
This browser explorer shows the Maldives as a double chain of ring-shaped coral atolls in the Indian Ocean: each ring a raised reef rim enclosing a shallow turquoise lagoon, with low sand-and-coral islets sitting on the rim itself.
The Maldives is made up of about 1,192 individual coral islands, grouped into 26 natural atolls that form a double chain running roughly north-south across the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India and Sri Lanka. Each atoll is a ring of coral reef built up around the rim of a submerged volcanic seamount, enclosing a shallow lagoon inside. The country's average ground elevation is only about 1.5 m (4.9 ft) above sea level, making it the lowest-lying country on Earth - nowhere in the Maldives rises very far above the waterline. That thin margin is why the country is so widely cited in discussions of sea-level rise: a modest increase in ocean level removes a disproportionate share of the country's usable land. The capital, Male, is itself a densely built island packed onto one of the larger atoll rims.
- Toggle the sea-level plane to see how little freeboard the reef rims have above today's sea level
- Toggle the lagoon depth bands to compare the shallow rim water against the deeper lagoon floor
- Read atoll count, elevation, and location figures in the panel
- Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload
| Figure | Published value |
|---|---|
| Coral islands | about 1,192 |
| Atolls | 26 natural atolls forming a double chain |
| Average elevation | about 1.5 m (4.9 ft) above sea level - the world's lowest country |
| Location | Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India and Sri Lanka |
| Capital | Male |
| Formation | coral reef rings built up on submerged volcanic seamounts |
For other reef and island scenes on this site, open the Bora Bora Lagoon 3D Explorer or the Galapagos Islands 3D Explorer.
The whole Maldives scene - the double chain of atoll rings, the shallow lagoons, the reef-rim islets, and the sea-level and lagoon-band toggles - is built and drawn on your own device with WebGL through the site-vendored three.js engine. Orbit the scene from above to see how the two rows of rings line up along the chain, and toggle the sea-level plane on and off to compare it against the reef rims. Nothing about your visit is uploaded to a server, and the engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and is then cached.
This is an educational approximation - the ring count, spacing, lagoon depth, and reef-rim freeboard are procedural teaching cues, not survey terrain or bathymetry.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the Maldives called the world's lowest country?
Its average ground elevation is only about 1.5 m (4.9 ft) above sea level - lower than any other country - which is why it appears so often in discussions of sea-level rise.
How many islands and atolls make up the Maldives?
About 1,192 individual coral islands, grouped into 26 natural atolls that form a double chain running roughly north-south across the Indian Ocean.
What is an atoll, and how does it form?
An atoll is a ring of coral reef built up around the rim of a submerged volcanic seamount, enclosing a shallow lagoon inside the ring.
Where is the Maldives located?
In the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India and Sri Lanka. The capital and largest city is Male.
What do the two toggles in this scene show?
The sea-level plane shows today's mean sea level against the reef rims, and the lagoon depth bands compare the shallow rim water against the deeper lagoon floor.
Is this a scientific bathymetric model?
No. It is an educational explorer using published figures - the ring count, spacing, lagoon depth, and reef-rim freeboard are procedural teaching cues, not survey terrain.