The Maldives is a middle-income country composed of more than 1000 small islands, whose geography and exposure to climate change pose unique challenges for infrastructure development. The population is highly dispersed over 184 inhabited islands and 90,000 square kilometers, making the provision of constitutionally mandated key social infrastructure to all inhabited islands complicated and costly. Further difficulties arise from the need to build climate change resilience and the heavy dependence on imported building materials. Despite these challenges, the government of the Maldives has provided near universal access to basic services (electricity, clean water and sanitation), and health centers and schools are present in all inhabited islands.