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Sri Lanka is a small island, in the Indian Ocean, located off the southern tip of India. This 65,610 Sq. km land mass is just 432 km from north to south and 224 km from east to west.
The climate ranges from hot and humid in the coastal areas to cool and pleasant in the central hills.
| Size |
65,610 Sq. Km |
| Population |
20,653,000 (2010)* |
| Spoken languages |
Sinhala, Tamil, English |
| Religions |
Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam. |
| Provinces |
North-East, Southern, Western, North Western, Central, North Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa. |
| Location |
Latitude: 6o-10o North
Longitude: 80o-82o East |
| Ruling Party |
United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) |
| Executive President |
His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa |
| Capital City |
Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte |
| Commercial Centre |
Colombo |
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP) |
3.5 per cent (2009 in Real Terms)** |
| Inflation |
3.4 percent (2009 December – 12 month moving average)* |
| Average Monthly Household Income |
Rs. 26,286.00* (2006/07) |
| Total Value of Exports |
US$ 8,977 Mn** (2009) |
| Main Export Items |
Garments, textiles and tea. |
| Crude Birth Rate |
18.8 (2008)* |
| Crude Death Rate |
5.8 (2008)* |
| Literacy |
91.4 (2009)* |
Sri Lanka has a recorded history of over 2,500 years with diplomatic ties and trade with other countries. For the most part, ancient Sri Lanka was ruled by kings with a self-sufficient village based economic system. The country has many ancient monuments, buildings, temples and other places of archeological interest. There are eight World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka. Among them are irrigation works that compare with the most modern in terms of scientific construction and hospitals that pre-date the birth of western medicine.
Sri Lanka’s twenty million population consists of several ethnic groups. The Sinhalese is the majority ethnic group making up 73.9% of the country’s population. The balance consists of the Sri Lankan Tamils* the Sri Lankan Moors (12.7%), Indian Tamils (5.5%), Malays (0.28%), Moors (7.1%) and others (0.8%).
Sri Lanka’s dominant religion is Buddhism (69.3%). The others are, Islam (7.6%), Hinduism (15.5%) and Roman Catholicism (7.6%).
Sri Lanka ranks 91st on the Human Development Index. Recent Economic Developments
More information on Sri Lanka’s economy…
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