The first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka late in the 6th century B.C.
probably from northern India. Buddhism was introduced in about the
mid-third century B.C., and a great civilization developed at the
cities of Anuradhapura (kingdom from circa 200 B.C. to circa A.D. 1000)
and Polonnaruwa (from about 1070 to 1200). In the 14th century, a south
Indian dynasty established a Tamil kingdom in northern Sri Lanka. The
coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the
16th century and by the Dutch in the 17th century. The island was ceded
to the British in 1796, became a crown colony in 1802, and was united
under British rule by 1815. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948;
its name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. Tensions between the
Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists erupted into war in 1983. Tens
of thousands have died in the ethnic conflict that continues to fester.
After two decades of fighting, the government and Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) formalized a cease-fire in February 2002 with Norway
brokering peace negotiations. Violence between the LTTE and government
forces intensified in 2006 and the government regained control of the
Eastern Province in 2007. In January 2008, the government officially
withdrew from the ceasefire, and has begun engaging the LTTE in the
northern portion of the country.
Total: 12.61 cu km/yr (2%/2%/95%)
Per capita: 608 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards:
Occasional cyclones and tornadoes
Environment - current issues:
Deforestation; soil erosion; wildlife populations threatened by
poaching and urbanization; coastal degradation from mining activities
and increased pollution; freshwater resources being polluted by
industrial wastes and sewage runoff; waste disposal; air pollution in
Colombo
Environment - international agreements:
Party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol,
Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note:
Strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes
21,128,772
note: since the outbreak of hostilities between the government and armed
Tamil separatists in the mid-1980s, several hundred thousand Tamil
civilians have fled the island and more than 200,000 Tamils have sought
refuge in the West (July 2008 est.)
Total: 30.4 years Male: 29.5 years Female: 31.4 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.943% (2008 est.)
Birth rate:
16.63 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate:
6.07 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate:
-1.12 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Sex ratio:
At birth: 1.04 male(s)/female Under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female Total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
Total: 19.01 deaths/1,000 live births Male: 20.76 deaths/1,000 live births Female: 17.17 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
Total population: 74.97 years Male: 72.95 years Female: 77.08 years (2008 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.02 children born/woman (2008 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
Less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
3,500 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
Fewer than 200 (2003 est.)
Major infectious diseases:
Degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A vectorborne disease: dengue fever and malaria water contact disease: leptospirosis (2008)
Nationality:
noun: Sri Lankan(s) adjective: Sri Lankan
Ethnic groups:
Sinhalese 73.8%, Sri Lankan Moors 7.2%, Indian Tamil 4.6%, Sri Lankan
Tamil 3.9%, other 0.5%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data)
Religions:
Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data)
Languages:
Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population
Literacy:
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 90.7% male: 92.3% female: 89.1% (2001 census)
Conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Conventional short form: Sri Lanka Llocal long form: Shri Lamka Prajatantrika Samajaya di Janarajaya/Ilankai Jananayaka Choshalichak Kutiyarachu local short form: Shri Lamka/Ilankai former: Serendib, Ceylon
Government type:
Republic
Capital:
name: Colombo Geographic coordinates: 6 56 N, 79 51 E Time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) note: Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative capital)
Administrative divisions:
8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western note: in October 2006, a Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruling voided a
presidential directive merging the North and Eastern Provinces; many
have defended the merger as a prerequisite for a negotiated settlement
to the ethnic conflict; a parliamentary decision on the issue is
pending
Independence:
4 February 1948 (from UK)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 4 February (1948)
Constitution:
Adopted 16 August 1978, certified 31 August 1978; amended 20 December 2000
Legal system:
A highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Kandyan,
and Jaffna Tamil law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
Chief of state: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA (since 19 November 2005); note - the
president is both the chief of state and head of government; Ratnasiri
WICKREMANAYAKE (since 21 November 2005) holds the largely ceremonial
title of prime minister head of government: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA (since 19 November 2005) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a
second term); election last held on 17 November 2005 (next to be held
in 2011) election results: Mahinda RAJAPAKSA elected president; percent of vote - Mahinda RAJAPAKSA 50.3%, Ranil WICKREMESINGHE 48.4%, other 1.3%
Legislative branch:
Unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected by popular vote on
the basis of an open-list, proportional representation system by
electoral district to serve six-year terms) elections: last held on 2 April 2004 (next to be held by 2010) election results: percent of vote by party or electoral alliance - SLFP and JVP (no
longer in formal UPFA alliance) 45.6%, UNP 37.8%, TNA 6.8%, JHU 6%,
SLMC 2%, UPF 0.5%, EPDP 0.3%, other 1%; seats by party - UNP 68, SLFP
57, JVP 39, TNA 22, CWC 8, JHU 7, SLMC 6, SLMC dissidents 4, Communist
Party 2, JHU dissidents 2, LSSP 2, MEP 2, NUA 2, UPF 2, EPDP 1, UNP
dissident 1
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court; Court of Appeals; judges for both courts are appointed by the president
Political parties and leaders:
All Ceylon Tamil Congress or ACTC [G.PONNAMBALAM]; Ceylon Workers
Congress or CWC [Arumugam THONDAMAN]; Communist Party or CP [D.
GUNASEKERA]; Eelam People's Democratic Party or EPDP [Douglas
DEVANANDA]; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front or EPRLF
[Suresh PREMACHANDRAN]; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP [Somawansa
AMARASINGHE]; Lanka Sama Samaja Party or LSSP [Tissa VITHARANA];
Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) or MEP [D.
GUNAWARDENE]; National Heritage Party or JHU [Ellawala METHANANDA];
National Unity Alliance or NUA [Ferial ASHRAFF]; People's Liberation
Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [D. SIDHARTHAN]; Sri Lanka Freedom
Party or SLFP [Mahinda RAJAPAKSA]; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress or SLMC
[Rauff HAKEEM]; Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO [Selvam
ADAIKALANATHAN]; Tamil National Alliance or TNA [R. SAMPANTHAN]; Tamil
United Liberation Front or TULF [V. ANANDASANGAREE]; United National
Party or UNP [Ranil WICKREMASINGHE]; Up-country People's Front or UPF
[P. CHANDRASEKARAN]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE [Velupillai
PRABHAKARAN](insurgent group fighting for a separate state); Tamil
Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) or Karuna Faction [Vinayagamurthi
MURALITHARAN] (paramilitary breakaway from LTTE and fighting LTTE) other: Buddhist clergy; labor unions; radical
chauvinist Sinhalese groups such as the National Movement Against
Terrorism; Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups
chief of mission: Ambassador Robert O. BLAKE, Jr. embassy: 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 mailing address: P. O. Box 106, Colombo telephone: [94] (11) 249-8500 FAX: [94] (11) 243-7345
Flag description:
Yellow with two panels; the smaller hoist-side panel has two equal
vertical bands of green (hoist side) and orange; the other panel is a
large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion holding a sword, and there
is a yellow bo leaf in each corner; the yellow field appears as a
border around the entire flag and extends between the two panels.
In 1977, Colombo abandoned statist economic policies and its import
substitution trade policy for more market-oriented policies,
export-oriented trade, and encouragement of foreign investment. Recent
changes in government, however, have brought some policy reversals.
Currently, the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party has a more statist
economic approach, which seeks to reduce poverty by steering investment
to disadvantaged areas, developing small and medium enterprises,
promoting agriculture, and expanding the already enormous civil
service. The government has halted privatizations. Although suffering a
brutal civil war that began in 1983, Sri Lanka saw GDP growth average
4.5% in the last 10 years with the exception of a recession in 2001. In
late December 2004, a major tsunami took about 31,000 lives, left more
than 6,300 missing and 443,000 displaced, and destroyed an estimated
$1.5 billion worth of property. Government spending on development and
fighting the LTTE drove growth to about 7% per year in 2006-08, but
high government spending and a loose monetary policy also pushed
inflation past 20% in 2008. Sri Lanka's most dynamic sectors now are
food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, port
construction, telecommunications, and insurance and banking. In 2006,
plantation crops made up only about 15% of exports (compared with more
than 90% in 1970), while textiles and garments accounted for more than
60%. About 800,000 Sri Lankans work abroad, 90% of them in the Middle
East. They send home more than $1 billion a year. The struggle by the
Tamil Tigers of the north and east for an independent homeland
continues to cast a shadow over the economy.
General assessment: telephone services have improved significantly and are available in most parts of the country
domestic: national trunk network consists mostly of digital microwave radio
relay; fiber-optic links now in use in Colombo area and fixed wireless
local loops have been installed; competition is strong in mobile
cellular systems and mobile cellular subscribership is increasing;
combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity is about 50 per 100
persons
international:country code - 94; the SEA-ME-WE-3 and
SEA-ME-WE-4 submarine cables provide connectivity to Asia, Australia,
Middle East, Europe, US; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Indian
Ocean)
IDPs: 460,000 (both Tamils and non-Tamils displaced due to long-term civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)) (2007)
Trafficking in persons:
Current situation: Sri Lanka is a source and destination country for men and women
trafficked for the purposes of involuntary servitude and commercial
sexual exploitation; Sri Lankan men and women migrate willingly to the
Persian Gulf, Middle East, and East Asia to work as construction
workers, domestic servants, or garment factory workers, where some find
themselves in situations of involuntary servitude when faced with
restrictions on movement, withholding of passports, threats, physical
or sexual abuse, and debt bondage; children are trafficked internally
for commercial sexual exploitation and, less frequently, for forced
labor tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - for a second
consecutive year, Sri Lanka is on the Tier 2 Watch List for failing to
provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of human
trafficking, particularly in the area of law enforcement; the
government failed to arrest, prosecute, or convict any person for
trafficking offenses and continued to punish some victims of
trafficking for crimes committed as a result of being trafficked; Sri
Lanka has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)
