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Peter Dotzauer writes that seven new provinces, plus one capital district, are being organized. Each province will consist of two to four atolls, and the capital district will match the existing one, Male. My research indicates that the provinces haven't yet been officially established, as of 2009-05-12. Source [1] (March 2009) says that the Majlis is considering a bill on "decentralization of administration units of the Maldives", which is expected to be passed by mid-July 2009. This will be the list if the legislation is passed.

Province	HASC	Population	Capital	Former
Central	MV.CE	13,442	Kudahuvadhoo	Daalu, Faafu, Meemu
Malé	MV.MA	103,693	Male	Male
North	MV.NR	43,539	Felivaru	Baa, Laviyani, Noonu, Raa
North Central	MV.NC	31,202	Maafushi	Aliff Aliff, Aliff Daalu, Kaafu, Waavu
South	MV.SO	25,662	Hithadhoo	Naviyani, Seenu
South Central	MV.SC	19,275	Thinadhoo	Gaafu Aliff, Gaafu Daalu
Upper North	MV.UN	41,672	Kulhudhuffushi	Haa Aliff, Haa Daalu, Shaviyani
Upper South	MV.US	20,483	Gan	Laamu, Thaa
8 divisions		298,968
Province: Except for Malé, which is a city. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. Population: 2006-03-28 census. Former: Subdivisions as of before the reorganization.

 

Note: There is some disagreement on one point. Source [1] says that South Central province consists of Thaa and Laamu, and Upper South province is Gaaf Alif and Gaaf Dhaalu. Source [3], a Wikipedia article, shows the contents of those two provinces switched. This map  agrees with the Wikipedia article.

Country overview: 

Short name	MALDIVES
ISO code	MV
FIPS code	MV
Language	Dhivehi
Time zone	+5
Capital	Male

 

The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate and a dependency of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) until 1948. Then the territory was separated from Ceylon and administered directly by Britain. It became independent on 1965-07-26.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Maldiverne
2. Dhivehi: Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa (formal)
3. Dutch: Maldiven, Republiek Maldiven (formal)
4. English: Republic of the Maldives (formal)
5. Finnish: Malediivit
6. French: Maldives fp
7. German: Malediven fp
8. Icelandic: Maldíveyjar
9. Italian: Maldive, Repubblica f delle Maldive fp (formal)
10. Norwegian: Maldivene, Republikken Maldivene (formal) (Bokmål), Maldivane, Republikken Maldivane (formal) (Nynorsk)
11. Portuguese: Maldivas, República f das Maldivas fp (formal)
12. Spanish: Maldivas, República f de Maldivas (formal)
13. Swedish: Maldiverna

Origin of name: 

Arabic al-Mahal: palace + Sanskrit dvipa: island

Primary subdivisions: 

Maldives is divided into twenty atolls and one city.

Atoll	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Code	PC	Population	Capital
Aliff Aliff	MV.AA	02	MV30	28	09	5,776	Rasdhoo
Aliff Daalu	MV.AD			29	00	8,379	Mahibadhoo
Baa	MV.BA	20	MV31	25	06	9,578	Eydhafushi
Daalu	MV.DA	17	MV32	33	13	4,967	Kudahuvadhoo
Faafu	MV.FA	14	MV33	32	12	3,765	Magoodhoo
Gaafu Aliff	MV.GA	27	MV34	36	16	8,262	Villingili
Gaafu Daalu	MV.GD	28	MV35	37	17	11,013	Thinadhoo
Haa Aliff	MV.HA	07	MV36	20	01	13,495	Dhidhdhoo
Haa Daalu	MV.HD	23	MV37	21	02	16,237	Kulhudhuffushi
Kaafu	MV.KA	26	MV38	27	08	15,441	Thulusdhoo
Laamu	MV.LM	05	MV05	35	15	11,990	Fonadhoo
Laviyani	MV.LV	03	MV39	26	07	9,190	Naifaru
Male	MV.MA	MLE	MV40	10	2x	103,693	Male
Meemu	MV.ME	12	MV41	31	11	4,710	Muli
Naviyani	MV.NA	29	MV42	38	18	7,636	Fuamulaku
Noonu	MV.NO	25	MV43	23	04	10,015	Manadhoo
Raa	MV.RA	13	MV44	24	05	14,756	U'ngoofaaru
Seenu	MV.SE	01	MV01	39	19	18,026	Hithadhoo
Shaviyani	MV.SH	24	MV45	22	03	11,940	Funadhoo
Thaa	MV.TH	08	MV46	34	14	8,493	Veymandoo
Waavu	MV.WA	04	MV47	30	10	1,606	Felidhoo
21 divisions						298,968
Atoll: Except for Male, which is a city. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Code: Codes used in census reports by the Ministry of Planning and Local Development (new codes used in 2000). PC: Post Code prefix (see below). Population: 2006-03-28 census.

Postal codes: 

Maldives Post (source [2]) introduced a new system of five-digit postal codes on 2002-09-09. The atoll of a location can be deduced from its first two digits, or just the first one in the Male postal area. Before then, codes for census statistical areas were used. They had the form nn-nn, where each 'n' is a digit.

Territorial extent: 

The atolls in the Maldives form the middle link in a chain between British Indian Ocean Territory to the south and Lakshadweep union territory, India, to the north. They are separated from Lakshadweep by the Eight Degree Channel, at about eight degrees North latitude, and from B.I.O.T. by a broader channel centered at about three degrees South.

Origins of names: 

The names of most of the atolls are simply the names of letters of the Thaana alphabet. Thaana  is used to write Dhivehi, the language of the Maldives, and is related to both the Arabic and Devanagari alphabets. Male comes from Arabic al-Mahal: palace.

According to anthropologist J.S. Gardiner, writing in 1901, atolu was the Dhivehi word for province. Since most of the provinces of the Maldives coincided with atolls even then, Europeans borrowed the word from Dhivehi and applied it to the concept of a ring of islands.

Change history: 

1. ~1987: Male city split from Kaafu atoll.
2. ~1998: Aliff atoll (MV.AL) split into Aliff Aliff and Aliff Daalu.

Other names of subdivisions: 

Note: (Admiralty) refers to atoll names on the British Admiralty charts. Aliff may be transcribed instead as Alif or Alifu; Daalu may be Dhaal or Dhaalu, Gaafu may be Gaaf, and so on. Names ending in "North" or "South" may equally well appear inverted (e.g. North Male instead of Male North). Names may be followed by "Atoll". Male is often written with an acute accent or apostrophe (Malé, Male').

1. Aliff: Ari and Rasdu (Admiralty); Ari (variant)
2. Aliff Aliff: Alif Uthuru, Ari Atholhu Uthuruburi, Ari Atoll Uthuru Gofi, Ari North (variant)
3. Aliff Daalu: Alif Dhekunu, Ari Atholhu Dhekunuburi, Ari Atoll Dhekunu Gofi, Ari South (variant)
4. Baa: Malosmadulu South (Admiralty); Maalhosmadulu Dhekunuburi, Maalhosmadulu South (variant)
5. Daalu: Nilandu South (Admiralty); Nilandhe Atholhu Dhekunuburi, Nilandhe South (variant)
6. Faafu: Nilandu North (Admiralty); Faaf, Faafa, Nilandhe Atholhu Uthuruburi, Nilandhe North (variant)
7. Gaafu Aliff: Suvadiva North (Admiralty); Huvadhoo North, Huvadu North, North Huvadhu (variant)
8. Gaafu Daalu: Suvadiva South (Admiralty); Huvadhoo South, Huvadu South, South Huvadhu (variant)
9. Haa Aliff: Tiladummati North (Admiralty); Ihavandhippolhu, Ihavandiffulu, Thiladhunmathee Uthuruburi, Thiladhunmathi North (variant)
10. Haa Daalu: Tiladummati South (Admiralty); Thiladhunmathee Dhekunuburi, Thiladhunmathi South (variant)
11. Kaafu: North and South Male (Admiralty); Male (variant)
12. Laamu: Haddummati (Admiralty); Hadhdhummathi, Hadhdhunmathee, Hadhunmathi (variant)
13. Laviyani: Fadiffolu (Admiralty); Faadhippolhu, Lhaviyani (variant)
14. Meemu: Mulaku (Admiralty); Miim, Mulakatholhu (variant)
15. Naviyani: Fua Mulaku (Admiralty); Foahmulah, Foammulah, Fuahmulah, Fuvahmulah, Gnaviyani, Gnyaviyalu (variant)
16. Noonu: Miladummadulu South (Admiralty); Miladhunmadulu Dhekunuburi, Miladhunmadulu South, Nuun (variant)
17. Raa: Malosmadulu North (Admiralty); Maalhosmadulu North, Maalhosmadulu Uthuruburi (variant)
18. Seenu: Addu (Admiralty); Addoo, Siin (variant)
19. Shaviyani: Miladummadulu North (Admiralty); Miladhunmadulu North, Miladhunmadulu Uthuruburi, Shaviyan (variant)
20. Thaa: Kolumadulu (Admiralty); Kolhumadulu (variant)
21. Waavu: Felidu (Admiralty); Felidhe, Felidhu, Vaavu (variant)

Population history:

Atoll	1995-03-25	2000-03-31	2006-03-28
Aliff Aliff	5,260	5,518	5,776
Aliff Daalu	6,695	7,803	8,379
Baa	8,712	9,612	9,578
Daalu	4,793	5,067	4,967
Faafu	3,165	3,827	3,765
Gaafu Aliff	8,121	8,249	8,262
Gaafu Daalu	12,031	11,886	11,013
Haa Aliff	13,676	14,161	13,495
Haa Daalu	15,365	16,956	16,237
Kaafu	11,675	13,474	15,441
Laamu	10,156	11,588	11,990
Laviyani	8,038	9,385	9,190
Male	62,519	74,069	103,693
Meemu	4,859	5,084	4,710
Naviyani	7,004	7,528	7,636
Noonu	10,103	10,429	10,015
Raa	12,953	14,486	14,756
Seenu	18,004	18,515	18,026
Shaviyani	10,462	11,406	11,940
Thaa	9,545	9,305	8,493
Waavu	1,678	1,753	1,606
Total	244,814	270,101	298,968

Sources:

1. [1] Strengthening Local Governance in Maldives , Presidents Office & Ministry of Home Affairs. March, 2009 (retrieved 2009-05-14).
2. [2] Maldives Post  (retrieved 2003-12-14).
3. [3] Administrative divisions of the Maldives  (Wikipedia article, retrieved 2009-05-12).