FACTBOX: Key facts about the Maldives

(Reuters) - A longtime democracy activist repeatedly jailed by Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom defeated the 30-year incumbent with 54.2 percent of votes in a historic runoff election, the election board said on Wednesday.

Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed's victory in the first multiparty democratic polls in a country best known as a top-end tourist haven caps a decades-long crusade to bring free elections to a country critics say Gayoom ruled as if it were his own sultanate.

Here are some key facts about the Indian Ocean archipelago:

GEOGRAPHY: The Maldives is a group of 1,192 islands scattered across 500 miles of the Indian Ocean off the southern tip of India.

POPULATION: 300,000 (2007)

ETHNIC GROUPS: The archipelago's population stems from migrations of Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Sinhalese and Arab people.

RELIGION: Islam, the official religion, is proclaimed as universal. By law, all residents are Sunni Muslims.

LANGUAGE: Dhivehi (related to Sinhalese) is the official language, but English and Arabic are also spoken.

CAPITAL: Male

ECONOMY: The Maldives is known for luxury beach vacations and its environmental consciousness in developing tourism.

The $850 million economy grew 7.6 percent in 2007. The Maldivian Monetary Authority estimates economic growth of 8.3 percent for 2008. However, the IMF said in a report in September that economic growth would slow to 6.5 percent in 2008, less than its forecast 8.3 percent.

Annual inflation is also expected to double to 15 percent in 2008.

The budget deficit will hit 9.6 percent of GDP this year, up from 7.8 percent in 2007, owing to high spending and revenue shortfalls, the IMF forecast.