Demographics of the Maldives  This article is about the demographic features of the population of the Maldives, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Structure of the population (21.03.2006) (Census) :  Structure of the population (01.07.2013) (Estimates) :  Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and CBR (Crude Birth Rate):  The total fertility rate differs greatly from as low as 2.05 children per woman in Malé to a maximum of 3.88 children in Faafu. Source: "UN World Population Prospects"  The largest ethnic group is Dhivehin, native to the historic region of the Maldive Islands comprising today's Republic of Maldives and the island of Minicoy in Union territory of Lakshadweep, India. They share the same culture and speak the Dhivehi language. They are principally an Indo-Aryan people, closely related to the Sinhalese and having traces of Middle Eastern, South Asian, Austronesian and African genes in the population. In the past there was also a small Tamil population known as the Giraavaru people. This group have now been almost completely absorbed into the larger Maldivian society but were once native to the island of Giraavaru (Kaafu Atoll). This island was evacuated in 1968 due to heavy erosion of the island. Dhivehi, an Indo-Aryan language closely related to the Sinhala language of Sri Lanka, and written in a specialized Arabic script (Thaana), is the official language and is spoken by virtually the whole population. English is also spoken as a second language by many. Sunni Islam is the state religion. Historically, the Maldives were converted to Islam from Buddhism in the 12th century. Under the 2008 constitution Islam is the official religion of the entire population, as adherence to it is required for citizenship. The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.  301,475 (July 2000 est.) - 369,031 (July 2007 est.) The average Maldivian citizen has 4.7 years of education