Sri Lanka
Name
| Official name | Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka — Śrī Laṅkā Prajātāntrika Samājavādī Janarajaya (Sinhala), Ilaṅkai Jaṉanāyaka Sōsalisak Kuṭiyarasu (Tamil); Sri Lanka the short form; the name given by the Constitution of 7 September 1978 to the republic of 22 May 1972; LKA |
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| Former names | Ceylon — the Dominion of Ceylon of 4 February 1948 and the Crown Colony of Ceylon of 1802 (the Portuguese "Ceilão" and the Dutch "Zeylan" before it), the Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka of 22 May 1972 (the first republican constitution) and the Democratic Socialist Republic since 7 September 1978; "Ceylon" lives on in Ceylon tea, the Bank of Ceylon and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation; Taprobane to the Greeks and Romans, Serendib to the Arabs and Persians, Lanka in the Ramayana and the Mahavamsa, Sihalam and Sinhala-dvipa in the Pali, Eelam the Tamil name of the island |
| Demonym | Sri Lankan (Sri Lankans); "Ceylonese" until 1972 and in the older writing; the peoples by their own names — the Sinhalese, the Sri Lankan Tamils, the Sri Lankan Moors, the Indian (Hill Country) Tamils, the Burghers, the Malays and the Veddas |
| Meaning of the name | "Resplendent island" — "Lanka" the island's name in Sanskrit and Pali since the epics, the Lanka of Ravana in the Ramayana, and "Sri" the honorific "resplendent" or "venerable" set before it in 1972; "Ceylon" descends through the Portuguese "Ceilão" and the Arabic "Sailan" from "Sihala," the Pali name of the Sinhalese, "of the lion" (siṃha), after the lion ancestor of Prince Vijaya in the Mahavamsa's legend; "Taprobane" from Tambapanni, the "copper-colored" shore where Vijaya landed; "Serendib" from an Arabic rendering of Sinhala-dvipa, "the island of the Sinhalese" — the root of the English "serendipity," coined by Horace Walpole in 1754 from the fairy tale of the three princes of Serendip |
| Motto | None official — the national emblem carries no words; the anthem "Sri Lanka Matha," "Mother Sri Lanka," and its refrain "Namo Namo Matha" serve the occasions |
Quick facts
| Capital | Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the legislative and administrative capital since the Parliament moved to its island in the Diyawanna Oya on 29 April 1982 (about 116,000 people, 2012) — a suburb of Colombo, the commercial capital and the seat of the President, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, of about 750,000 in the city by the census of 2012 (about 560,000 within the municipal council) and about 5 million in the Western Province conurbation by the estimates; the Presidential Secretariat in the old Parliament at Galle Face, the Central Bank and the port on the Colombo side, the Parliament of Geoffrey Bawa (1982) on Kotte's island |
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| Largest cities | Colombo (about 750,000; the census of 2012) — its conurbation of about 5 million with Dehiwala–Mount Lavinia (about 220,000), Moratuwa (about 170,000), Negombo (about 140,000), Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (about 116,000) and Kesbewa in it; Kandy (about 100,000 in the city; the hill capital), Galle (about 90,000), Jaffna (about 90,000), Batticaloa, Kalmunai, Trincomalee, Anuradhapura, Ratnapura, Matara, Kurunegala, Badulla and Nuwara Eliya — the city counts of 2012, those of the census of 2024 to come; Gampaha the most populous district (2,433,685) ahead of Colombo (2,374,461) and Kurunegala (1,760,829), the census of 2024 |
| Official language | Sinhala and Tamil, the official and national languages (Article 18 of the Constitution as amended by the 13th Amendment of 1987 and the 16th of 1988; Sinhala alone by the "Sinhala Only" Act of 1956 until then); English the "link language" of the Constitution, of the higher courts, business, medicine and the universities; Sinhala the first language of about three in four, Tamil of about one in four (the Tamils and the Moors); Sri Lankan Malay, the Portuguese creole of the east and the Vedda language spoken by a few thousand |
| Currency | Sri Lankan rupee (ISO code LKR; Rs or රු), of 100 cents — about Rs 330 to the U.S. dollar on 25 September 2026, about 9% weaker in a year and about 6% weaker in 2026 by the Central Bank's count to August, against the record low of about Rs 370 in the crisis of May 2022 and the recovery to about Rs 290 in 2024; notes of Rs 20 to Rs 5,000; the Central Bank of Sri Lanka of 28 August 1950 (Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe since 8 April 2022), independent by the Central Bank Act of 2023, its Overnight Policy Rate 8.75% after the rise of 26 May 2026, held on 22 July, the next decision due 30 September 2026 |
| Time zone | Sri Lanka Standard Time, UTC+5:30 all year, no daylight saving, the same as India's — the clocks ran at UTC+6 and UTC+6:30 between 1996 and 2006 before returning on 15 April 2006 |
| Calling code | +94 |
| Internet domain | .lk (since 1990; the LK Domain Registry), with .ලංකා in Sinhala and .இலங்கை in Tamil since 2010 |
| ISO 3166 codes | LK · LKA · 144 |
| Vehicle registration code | CL |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug type G the national standard by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (2018), the older types D and M still in the older houses |
| Independence | 4 February 1948 — from the United Kingdom, as the Dominion of Ceylon under the Soulbury Constitution (the whole island British since the Kandyan Convention of 2 March 1815; the coast since 1796 and the Crown Colony of 1802); a republic on 22 May 1972 (the Commonwealth kept); the Democratic Socialist Republic by the Constitution of 7 September 1978; the traditional founding of the Anuradhapura kingdom 437 BC by Pandukabhaya, the landing of Prince Vijaya about 543 BC by the Mahavamsa |
| National days | Independence Day, 4 February (the parade at Galle Face); the Sinhala and Tamil New Year of 13–14 April; Vesak on the full moon of May (two days; the lanterns and the free food of the dansal); every full-moon Poya day a holiday, 12 or 13 a year; Poson in June (the coming of Buddhism), the Kandy Esala Perahera of July–August, Thai Pongal in January, Deepavali, Maha Shivaratri, Milad-un-Nabi, the two Eids, Good Friday and Christmas — about 25 public holidays a year, among the most anywhere |
| Constitution | The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, certified 31 August 1978 and in force from 7 September 1978 — the second republican constitution, J. R. Jayewardene's executive presidency (a President directly elected for five years as head of state, head of the government and commander in chief) with a unicameral Parliament of 225 elected by proportional representation for five years; unitary, with the nine provincial councils of the 13th Amendment of 1987 under the Indo–Sri Lanka Accord; Buddhism "the foremost place" (Article 9) with the freedom of the other faiths; amended 22 times — the 17th of 2001 and the 19th of 2015 curbed the presidency, the 18th of 2010 and the 20th of 2020 restored it, the 21st of 2022 restored the Constitutional Council; the 22nd, passed 158–63 on 25 September 2026 with the Judicature Bill beside it (158–62), raises the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and of Court of Appeal judges from 63 to 65, the Supreme Court having held on 22 September that it needed a two-thirds vote and no referendum with two changes of wording: the government's case (Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara) that longer benches will clear the backlog of cases in a wider reform of the courts; the opposition's (Sajith Premadasa; the opposition benches in black) that it bends the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers — both stated (LAW 2); the abolition of the executive presidency the NPP promised "not a priority," the President said on 1 June 2026, a new constitution still promised; the Supreme Court the sole interpreter (Article 125) |
| Population | 21,763,170 by the census of 19 December 2024 (the final count of April 2025; the preliminary count 21,781,800) — up 1.4 million, 0.5% a year, since the census of 2012 (20,359,439); about 23.3 million by the UN's estimate for 2026, which models the emigrants the census does not count, both stated; the 57th to 60th of the world by the counts; the Western Province 28.1% of the whole, the Northern 5.3%; women 51.7% (93.3 men to 100 women); the median age 35, one in six past 60; 220,761 births and 171,194 deaths registered in 2024, the fewest births in decades; net emigration of about 177,000 in 2024 by the registrar's count (223,000 in 2023) |
| Area | 65,610 km² (25,332 sq mi) by the usual count, 65,612 by some, the water about 4% of it (64,630 km² of land and 980 of water by the Factbook) — about the 120th country of the world by area, about the size of West Virginia, a fifth of Britain; the main island 64,058 km², the 25th-largest island on Earth, 432 km from Point Pedro to Dondra Head and 224 km across, with the Jaffna Peninsula, Mannar Island, Delft, Kayts and the islets of the north and east; an exclusive economic zone of about 517,000 km², about eight times the land |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | The Lion Flag — a gold lion passant holding a kastane sword on a maroon field with a gold bo leaf in each corner, the panel bordered gold, and two vertical stripes of green (for the Muslims) and saffron (for the Tamils) at the hoist: the lion banner of the last king of Kandy, carried to England in 1815 and traced there by E. W. Perera, the model of the plain lion flag hoisted at the independence of 4 February 1948; the two stripes added by the flag committee under D. S. Senanayake and the flag adopted 2 March 1951; the four bo leaves in place of the spear finials with the republic of 1972; the design fixed by Article 6 and the Second Schedule of the Constitution of 1978 — the lion for the Sinhalese and their bravery, the sword for sovereignty, the bo leaves for the four Buddhist virtues of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity, the ratio 1:2. Flag of Sri Lanka |
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| Coat of arms | The national emblem of 1972 — the gold lion passant with the sword of the flag on a maroon disc ringed by petals of the blue lotus, set on a vase of rice with sheaves of paddy either side, the dharmachakra (the wheel of the Buddhist law) crested above and the sun and the moon of the ancient Sinhalese kingship at the sides — adopted with the republic of 22 May 1972 in place of the colonial arms of 1954 and the crown of Ceylon; on the passports, the coins, the courts and the presidential standard |
| National anthem | "Sri Lanka Matha" ("Mother Sri Lanka"), words and music by Ananda Samarakoon, written in 1940 as "Namo Namo Matha," adopted 22 November 1951 and first sung as the anthem on the Independence Day of 4 February 1952; the Tamil version, "Sri Lanka Thaaye," of the same standing in the Constitution's Third Schedule, sung at the Independence Day of 2016 after a generation's silence and every year since; the opening words changed from "Namo Namo Matha" to "Sri Lanka Matha" in 1961 over the poet's objection |
| National motto | None; the emblem bears no words — "Sri Lanka Matha" and the flag's lion serve; the NPP government's "a thriving nation, a beautiful life" is a manifesto slogan, not a motto of the state |
| National colors | Maroon and gold of the lion flag, with the green and the saffron of its stripes; the six colors of the Buddhist flag on Vesak; the national cricket team plays in blue and yellow — "the Lions" |
| National animal | None designated — the lion of the flag and the emblem is the Sinhalese emblem (no lion has lived wild on the island in historical time); the Sri Lankan elephant, the largest of the Asian subspecies, and the grizzled giant squirrel are called national by the popular lists; the Sri Lanka junglefowl (Gallus lafayettii), endemic, the national bird; the Sri Lankan birdwing (Troides darsius), endemic, the national butterfly since 2010; the blue sapphire the national gem since 2003 |
| National flower and tree | The blue water lily, nil manel (Nymphaea nouchali), and the ironwood tree, na (Mesua ferrea), both declared 26 February 1986, the tree native to the wet zone's forests; the Sri Maha Bodhi of Anuradhapura, grown from a cutting of the Buddha's bo tree planted in 288 BC, the oldest tree with a known planting date — the bo leaf on the flag |
| National dish | Rice and curry, by custom and no decree — the plate of rice with a dhal, a fish, chicken or jackfruit curry, a mallung of greens, the coconut-and-chili pol sambol and a papadum; hoppers (appa) and string hoppers, kottu roti, pittu, the lamprais of the Burghers, kiribath (milk rice) of the New Year, the watalappan of the Malays; Ceylon tea and the coconut arrack |
| National sport | Volleyball, the national sport by declaration of 1991 (played since 1916); cricket the passion — Test status in 1981, the World Cup of 17 March 1996 under Arjuna Ranatunga, the T20 World Cup of 2014, six Asia Cups (the last in 2022), Muttiah Muralitharan's 800 Test wickets, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene; the T20 World Cup of 7 February – 8 March 2026 co-hosted with India (Colombo's Premadasa and SSC grounds and Kandy's Pallekele; Pakistan's matches all in Sri Lanka; the hosts out at the Super Eight on 25 February, India the champion at Ahmedabad on 8 March); the schools' rugby and the Royal–Thomian cricket match of 1880; athletics — Duncan White's hurdles silver of 1948, Susanthika Jayasinghe's 200 m bronze of Sydney 2000, made silver in 2010, Rumesh Tharanga's javelin of 92.62 m at Rome on 4 June 2026, the longest throw of the world that season |
| Heritage listings | UNESCO World Heritage ×8 — the sacred city of Anuradhapura, the ancient city of Polonnaruwa and the ancient city of Sigiriya (all 1982), the sacred city of Kandy and the old town of Galle and its fortifications (1988), the Golden Temple of Dambulla (1991), the Sinharaja Forest Reserve (1988) and the Central Highlands (2010: Horton Plains, the Knuckles, the Peak Wilderness); Intangible Heritage — rūkada nātya, the string-puppet theater of the south (2018), and the Dumbara rata kalāla mats of Kandy (2021), both on the list in need of urgent safeguarding; biosphere reserves ×4 (Sinharaja, Hurulu, Kanneliya–Dediyagala–Nakiyadeniya, Bundala); Ramsar wetlands ×6 (Bundala the first, 1990), Colombo a Ramsar "Wetland City" since 2018, the first capital so accredited |
| Symbol status | The flag, the emblem and the anthem by the Constitution of 1978 (Articles 6–7 and the Schedules); the flower, the tree and the bird by the Cabinet of 1986, the sport by the declaration of 1991, the gem by that of 2003 and the butterfly by that of 2010; no national animal, dish, dress or motto by law |
Geography
| Location | An island in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern tip of India, between 5°55′ and 9°51′ N and 79°41′ and 81°53′ E — the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar between it and Tamil Nadu, the shoals of Adam's Bridge running from Mannar Island toward Rameswaram (about 30 km; the ferry of Kankesanthurai–Nagapattinam since 2023), the Maldives about 700 km to the southwest, the Bay of Bengal to the north and east, the Laccadive Sea to the west; astride the sea lane between the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal, the reason Colombo is the transshipment port of South Asia and Trincomalee was the Royal Navy's eastern base |
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| Land borders | None — an island state; India the neighbor across the Palk Strait, 30 km at the narrowest by Adam's Bridge, and the Maldives to the southwest; the maritime boundary with India by the agreements of 1974 and 1976 (Kachchatheevu islet confirmed to Sri Lanka in 1974, the Tamil Nadu fishermen's quarrel over it since); an exclusive economic zone of about 517,000 km² |
| Coastline | 1,340 km by the Factbook, 1,585 km by the Coast Conservation Department's count and 1,785 km by others, all stated — the beaches of the southwest (Bentota, Hikkaduwa, Unawatuna, Mirissa), of the east (Trincomalee, Nilaveli, Pasikudah, Arugam Bay) and of Kalpitiya; the lagoons of Negombo, Puttalam, Jaffna and Batticaloa; the Dutch forts of Galle and Jaffna; the mangroves and the reefs of Hikkaduwa, Bar Reef and Pigeon Island; Trincomalee among the deepest natural harbors of the world; the tsunami of 26 December 2004 struck two-thirds of it |
| Highest point | Pidurutalagala (Mount Pedro), 2,524 m (8,281 ft), above Nuwara Eliya in the Central Highlands, closed to the public as a military and broadcasting summit; Kirigalpotta 2,388 m and Totapola 2,357 m in Horton Plains; Adam's Peak (Sri Pada), 2,243 m, the sacred mountain of four faiths (the "footprint" of the Buddha, Shiva, Adam or St. Thomas), its pilgrimage season December to May; the Knuckles (Gombaniya, 1,906 m); Namunukula (about 2,035 m) in Uva |
| Lowest point | The Indian Ocean, 0 m — the lagoons and the coastal plain, the coral-limestone shelf of the Jaffna Peninsula a few meters above the sea, the salt pans of Hambantota and Puttalam |
| Mean elevation | About 228 m — a coastal and dry-zone lowland of 0 to 100 m over about three-quarters of the island, the south-central highlands rising in three steps to the plateau of Horton Plains and Nuwara Eliya at 1,800 to 2,300 m, the tea country between 1,000 and 2,000 m |
| Rivers | 103 rivers, all radiating from the highlands — the Mahaweli (335 km), the longest, from near Adam's Peak past Kandy to Koddiyar Bay at Trincomalee, dammed at Victoria, Randenigala, Rantembe and Kotmale by the accelerated Mahaweli scheme of 1977–85, the largest project of the state; the Malwathu Oya (Aruvi Aru, about 170 km) of Anuradhapura, the second; the Kelani (145 km) through Colombo; the Kalu (129 km) at Kalutara, the heaviest flow; the Walawe (138 km) with the Udawalawe reservoir; the Gal Oya with the Senanayake Samudraya of 1953; the Menik, Kirindi, Deduru Oya, Maha Oya, Gin and Nilwala; the waterfalls of Bambarakanda (263 m, the highest), Diyaluma (220 m), Ravana and St. Clair's |
| Lakes | The tanks (wewa) of the ancient kings are the great waters: the Parakrama Samudra of Polonnaruwa (1153), the Kala Wewa (460; King Dhatusena), the Minneriya (3rd century; King Mahasena; the elephants' "Gathering"), the Tissa Wewa, the Giant's Tank of Mannar, Kantale; the Senanayake Samudraya of the Gal Oya (1953), the largest reservoir, Victoria (1985), Maduru Oya, Rajanganaya, Udawalawe and Lunugamvehera; the Bolgoda Lake south of Colombo the largest natural lake, the Kandy Lake of 1807 by the last king, the Gregory Lake of Nuwara Eliya (1873); the lagoons of Jaffna, Batticaloa, Puttalam and Negombo |
| Terrain | A pear-shaped island of three steps: the coastal lowlands, which take in the whole north and east and the wide dry-zone plains of the ancient tanks; the middle step of the hills; and the central massif of the south-center — the Central Highlands of Pidurutalagala, Horton Plains ("World's End," a drop of about 870 m), the Knuckles and the Peak Wilderness; the Jaffna Peninsula of coral limestone; the Mahaweli's valley; the "cultural triangle" of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kandy with the 200-m rock of Sigiriya and the caves of Dambulla inside it; the Sinharaja rainforest the last great tract of the wet zone; the dunes of the Kalpitiya and Hambantota coasts |
| Climate | Tropical monsoon, the temperature by altitude and the rain by two monsoons: the southwest (yala) of May to September on the wet zone of the southwest quarter and the hills — 2,500 mm and more a year, up to 5,000 on the western slopes; the northeast (maha) of December to February on the dry zone of the north and east, 1,200 to 1,900 mm, the arid coasts of Mannar, Puttalam and Hambantota 600 to 1,200 mm; the inter-monsoon thunderstorms of October–November the heaviest rain of Colombo; 27°C to 30°C all year on the coasts (Colombo's mean 27.5°C), 16°C at Nuwara Eliya with frost in some Januaries; the humidity 70 to 90% |
| Natural hazards | Cyclones off the Bay of Bengal in November–December and April–May — Ditwah of 27–29 November 2025 the deadliest on record: 644 dead and 183 missing by the disaster-management authority's count, 1.46 million displaced at the peak, the hills of Kandy, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya and Kegalle by landslide and the Mahaweli's floods below, about US$4.1 billion of damage and loss by the World Bank's assessment of 22 December 2025 (about Rs 2 trillion with the rebuilding by the Treasury's count), the emergency of 28 November, the Rs 500 billion supplementary of 19 December; the cyclone of November 1978 on Batticaloa (about 900 dead) and of 1964 on Mannar; the tsunami of 26 December 2004, about 35,000 dead (31,229 by the official count) and 500,000 displaced, the worst disaster in the island's history; the monsoon floods and landslides of May 2016 (Aranayake), May 2017 and 2024; the droughts of the dry zone; the Kelani's floods on Colombo; earthquakes rare (the island rides the Indian plate); the elephant–human conflict — about 400 elephants and 150 people a year |
| Natural resources | Gems — the sapphires, rubies, cat's-eyes, alexandrites and garnets of Ratnapura, "the city of gems" (the Star of Adam of 1,404 carats, found in 2015, the largest blue star sapphire known); graphite, the purest vein graphite mined anywhere (Bogala, Kahatagaha); the mineral sands of Pulmoddai (ilmenite, rutile, zircon), the phosphate of Eppawala, limestone, kaolin and clay, mica, quartz; hydropower; the fisheries; the gas of the Mannar Basin found in 2011 (the Dorado and Barracuda fields), undeveloped; tea, rubber, coconut and cinnamon the planted wealth; no oil or coal |
| Land use | Arable about 21%, permanent crops about 16% (the tea of about 200,000 ha, the rubber, the coconut triangle of about 440,000 ha, the spices), pasture 7%, forest about 29% (29.7% by the Forest Department's survey; about 70% in 1900), the rest the towns, the tanks and the scrub; irrigated about 5,700 km² by the ancient tanks (some 30,000 of them, the "hydraulic civilization") and the Mahaweli; the paddy on about 900,000 ha in the maha and yala seasons, the island near self-sufficient in rice; deforestation, sand mining and coastal erosion the concerns |
| National parks | 26 national parks under the Department of Wildlife Conservation — Yala (1938, with Wilpattu the first; the leopards, the most visited), Wilpattu (1,317 km², the largest), Udawalawe (the elephants and their transit home), Minneriya and Kaudulla (the dry-season "Gathering" of some 300 elephants, the largest congregation of Asian elephants anywhere), Horton Plains, Gal Oya, Kumana, Bundala, Wasgamuwa, Maduru Oya, Lunugamvehera, Pigeon Island and Hikkaduwa (marine); the Sinharaja and Knuckles forest reserves; about 13% of the land protected; the blue whales of Mirissa and Trincomalee, the sea turtles of Rekawa and Kosgoda, the sloth bear, the purple-faced langur and 33 endemic birds |
| UNESCO World Heritage | Eight sites, six cultural and two natural: Anuradhapura, the capital of some 1,300 years (437 BC – 1017) — the Ruwanwelisaya, the Jetavanaramaya (122 m when built, the tallest brick structure of the ancient world) and the Sri Maha Bodhi; Polonnaruwa, the medieval capital of Parakramabahu the Great (the Gal Vihara Buddhas); Sigiriya, King Kashyapa's rock palace of the 5th century with the frescoes and the mirror wall; the Dambulla cave temple of the 1st century BC; Kandy with the Temple of the Tooth of the last kingdom (1592–1815); Galle's Dutch fort of 1663, the best-kept fortified city of South Asia; the Sinharaja rainforest (1988); the Central Highlands (2010); a tentative list of Seruwila, Mihintale and others |
| Administrative divisions | Nine provinces — Western (Colombo), Central (Kandy), Southern (Galle), Northern (Jaffna), Eastern (Trincomalee), North Western (Kurunegala), North Central (Anuradhapura), Uva (Badulla) and Sabaragamuwa (Ratnapura) — with 25 districts, 331 divisional secretariats and 14,022 grama niladhari divisions under the central government's officers, and 341 local authorities (29 municipal councils, 36 urban councils and 276 pradeshiya sabhas) elected 6 May 2025; the provincial councils of the 13th Amendment of 1987 without elected members since their terms ran out in 2017–19, run by the presidentially appointed governors, their elections waiting on the electoral system a parliamentary select committee has until 17 December 2026 to settle (the opposition's members walked out of it in September 2026; the choice between the old proportional list and the mixed system of the Act of 2017 the nub); the Northern and Eastern provinces merged 1988–2006 and split by the Supreme Court in 2006 |
People
| Population | 21.76 million by the census of 2024, about 23.3 million by the UN's estimate for 2026 (the census by the enumeration of 19 December 2024, the UN by its models, which keep the emigrants), both stated — the Western Province 28.1%, the Northern 5.3%; the count of 2024 found 1.4 million more people than 2012 with the growth slowed to 0.5% a year, the emigration of the crisis years (about 300,000 leaving for work in each of 2022, 2023 and 2024) and the fewest births on record (220,761 in 2024) behind it; 93.3 men to 100 women; 0–14 years 20.7%, 15–64 66.7%, 65 and over 12.6% (2024), one in six past 60 — the fastest-aging population of South Asia |
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| Population density | About 332 to the km² by the census (372 by the UN's count), among the denser countries of the world — Colombo District 3,549 to the km², Gampaha about 1,750, Mullaitivu 50 the emptiest; the wet southwest holds half the people on a quarter of the land |
| Population growth | About 0.5% a year between the censuses of 2012 and 2024 (the UN's 0.5% for 2026) — a natural increase of about 50,000 a year (220,761 births against 171,194 deaths in 2024) eaten by net emigration of about 177,000 in 2024 and 223,000 in 2023 by the registrar's count; the 2.8% a year of the 1950s halved by 1980, Sri Lanka's demographic transition the earliest of South Asia |
| Median age | About 35 years by the census of 2024 (33.6 by the UN's estimate; 31 in 2012) — the oldest population of South Asia, 18% past 60 and 12.6% past 65 |
| Life expectancy | About 77 to 78 years by the UN's estimates for 2026 (women about 81, men about 75), 76 by the registrar's life tables of 2012 — the longest of South Asia, on the free public health of the 1930s and after; infant mortality about 5 to 6 per 1,000 live births, the lowest of the region; maternal deaths among the fewest of the developing world |
| Fertility rate | 1.4 children per woman by the registrar's count of 2024 (the 220,761 births, down from about 330,000 a decade before), 1.9 by the UN's estimates, both stated — below replacement since about 2020 (2.3 in 2012; 5.3 in 1960): the family planning of the 1960s, the schooling of the women and the emigration of the young |
| Urban population | About 18% by the census definition, which counts only the 29 municipal and 36 urban council areas (18.2% in 2012) — nearer half by the built-up measures of the World Bank: the Colombo–Gampaha–Kalutara conurbation of about 5 million, the ribbon of the coast from Negombo to Galle; Kandy, Kurunegala and Jaffna the inland towns |
| Adult literacy | About 92% to 96%, both stated — 95.7% by the census of 2012, 92.4% by the labor survey of 2019 (the estate sector lowest at 86%) — the highest of South Asia, on the free education of C. W. W. Kannangara's reforms of 1945, free from kindergarten to university; school enrollment near universal; 17 state universities |
| Ethnic groups | By the census of 2024: Sinhalese 74.1%; Sri Lankan Tamils 12.3% (the north and east, the Jaffna Peninsula and Batticaloa); Sri Lankan Moors 10.5% (the Tamil-speaking Muslims of the east and the towns); Indian Tamils 2.8% (the "Hill Country" Tamils of the tea estates, brought from Tamil Nadu by the British from the 1830s, stripped of citizenship in 1948–49 and restored to it between 1964 and 2003); others 0.3% — the Burghers of Dutch and Portuguese descent (about 40,000), the Malays (about 40,000), the Veddas, the aboriginal forest people (a few thousand), the Chetties, the Bharathas and the Kaffirs of Puttalam |
| Languages | Sinhala, Indo-Aryan, in its own round script, the first language of about three in four; Tamil, Dravidian, of about one in four (the Tamils and the Moors), the language of the north and east; English, the link language, of business, the higher courts, medicine and the universities, spoken with fluency by about a quarter by the estimates and the first language of the Burghers and a Colombo elite; Sri Lankan Malay, the Portuguese creole of Batticaloa and the Vedda language nearly gone; the trilingual policy of 2012; the Sinhala–Tamil language quarrel of 1956 the seed of the war |
| Religion | By the census of 2024: Buddhist 69.8% (Theravada; the Sinhalese — the oldest continuous Buddhist civilization, since Mahinda's mission of 247 BC, the Pali canon written down at Aluvihara in the 1st century BC); Hindu 12.6% (the Tamils; Shaivite); Muslim 10.7% (the Moors and the Malays; Sunni); Christian 6.9% — Roman Catholic 5.6% of the Portuguese and the fishing coast (Negombo "Little Rome"), 1.3% Anglican, Methodist and the newer churches; Buddhism given "the foremost place" by Article 9; the four faiths on Adam's Peak; the Easter bombings of 21 April 2019 on three churches and three hotels (269 dead) |
| Human Development Index | 0.776 (2023) — high, 89th of 193 (UNDP, 2025), the highest of South Asia and above its income; the Gini of about 38 to 40 by the World Bank's measures; poverty about a fifth to a quarter of the people by the Bank's lower-middle-income line in 2024–25 by its estimates, twice the share of 2019 after the crisis of 2022; the Aswesuma welfare program of 2023 for about 2 million families |
| Housing and living | A country of small houses and gardens — about four in five families in a home of their own, the line rooms of the tea estates the exception; electricity to everyone since 2016, piped water to about half, the wells and the tanks the rest; the cost of living of the crisis — inflation of 69.8% in September 2022, the food prices doubled, the poverty doubled, the queues for fuel, gas and medicine of 2022 — and the recovery of 2024–25 with prices falling; the minimum monthly wage raised to about Rs 27,000 in 2025 by the budget's provisions, the estate workers' daily wage the litigation of 2024; the electricity tariff cut in 2024–25 and raised in 2026; the homes Ditwah damaged and the rebuilding of 2026 |
| Learning and letters | Free schooling since 1945 and free universities — about 10,000 state schools, the grade-five scholarship and the A-levels the trials of childhood; 17 state universities (the University of Ceylon of 1942 the first, Peradeniya and Colombo its heirs; Moratuwa, Kelaniya, Jaffna, Ruhuna; SLIIT and NSBM among the private); the medical schools that staff the Gulf and the NHS; the Pali chronicles — the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa of the 5th century, "the Great Chronicle" — and the Sigiriya graffiti of the 8th century; the writers Martin Wickramasinghe (Gamperaliya), Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient; Running in the Family), Shyam Selvadurai, Romesh Gunesekera, Jean Arasanayagam and Shehan Karunatilaka (the Booker Prize of 2022 for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida); Lester James Peries's films (Rekava, 1956); Geoffrey Bawa's "tropical modernism" (the Parliament, Kandalama); the Kandyan dance; Arthur C. Clarke of Colombo, 1956–2008; Radio Ceylon of 1925, the oldest station of Asia |
| Sport | Cricket the national game in all but law — the Test status of 1981, the World Cup of 17 March 1996 at Lahore, the T20 World Cup of 2014, six Asia Cups, Muralitharan's 800 Test wickets and 534 in one-day internationals, Sangakkara's 28,000 international runs, Jayasuriya, Jayawardene, Malinga; the T20 World Cup of 2026 co-hosted (the hosts out at the Super Eight); the Lanka Premier League (17 July – 8 August 2026); the board of Sri Lanka Cricket resigned 29 April 2026; volleyball the national sport by law; the schools' rugby league (Trinity's double of 2026), the Bradby Shield; athletics — Duncan White (1948), Susanthika Jayasinghe (2000), Rumesh Tharanga's 92.62 m of 4 June 2026 and his Diamond League golds of Ostrava and Doha; two Olympic medals in all; the surf of Arugam Bay; the Colombo Marathon |
| Diaspora | About 3 million Sri Lankans abroad by the estimates — the Gulf (about 1.5 million; the housemaids, drivers and builders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, whose remittances of US$8.08 billion in 2025, up 22.8%, are the largest foreign earner, ahead of apparel and tourism), the Tamil diaspora of the war (Canada about 200,000 to 300,000, Toronto the largest Tamil city outside Asia; the UK, Switzerland, Germany, France, Australia, Norway), India (about 90,000 Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu's camps and towns), Italy (about 100,000, mostly Sinhalese), Australia, the United States, Singapore and Malaysia; about 300,000 left for work in each of 2022, 2023 and 2024 by the Bureau of Foreign Employment's count, the doctors, nurses and IT workers among them |
Government
| Form of government | A unitary semi-presidential republic — an executive President directly elected for five years (by a single vote with three ranked preferences, the second and third counted if no one passes half), head of state, head of the government and of the Cabinet and commander in chief; a Prime Minister the President appoints from the House; the unicameral Parliament of 225 for five years; the Supreme Court; the nine provincial councils of 1987 (dormant) and the 341 local authorities; the Constitution of 1978 as amended 22 times; a member of the Commonwealth; the oldest democracy of Asia by universal suffrage (1931) |
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| President | Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the ninth executive President, of the National People's Power (NPP) and its core, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) he has led since 2014 — elected 21 September 2024 with 42.31% of the first preferences (5,634,915 votes) and 55.89% after the second count (5,740,179 to 4,530,902), the first election of Sri Lanka decided on preferences (Sajith Premadasa 32.76%, Ranil Wickremesinghe 17.27%, Namal Rajapaksa 2.57%; turnout 79.46%), sworn in 23 September 2024 — the first president from outside the two old parties and the first of the left, of a farming family of Thambuttegama in the North Central Province; holds the ministries of defense, finance, planning and economic development, and the digital economy; a term to September 2029; the Presidential Secretariat in the old Parliament at Galle Face |
| Prime Minister | Harini Amarasuriya (NPP), since 24 September 2024 and reappointed 18 November 2024 after the parliamentary election — the third woman in the office after Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1960–65, 1970–77, 1994–2000) and Chandrika Kumaratunga (1994), the first from outside the Bandaranaike family and the first academic, a sociologist of the Open University who entered Parliament on the national list in 2020; also the minister of education, higher education and vocational education; Bimal Rathnayake the Leader of the House, Nalinda Jayatissa the Chief Government Whip |
| Cabinet | The Cabinet of 18 November 2024 as changed by the reshuffle of 10 October 2025 (three ministers and ten deputies moved) — 22 ministers besides the President (23 in all) and about 30 deputy ministers, all of the NPP: Vijitha Herath (foreign affairs, foreign employment and tourism), Bimal Rathnayake (transport, highways and urban development), Nalinda Jayatissa (health and mass media), Harshana Nanayakkara (justice and national integration), Ananda Wijepala (public security and parliamentary affairs), K. D. Lalkantha (agriculture, livestock, land and irrigation), Wasantha Samarasinghe (trade, commerce, food security and cooperatives), Anil Jayantha Fernando (labor), Ramalingam Chandrasekar (fisheries), Hiniduma Sunil Senevi (Buddha Sasana, religious and cultural affairs), Sunil Handunnetti (industry and entrepreneurship), Samantha Vidyaratna (plantations and community infrastructure), Saroja Savithri Paulraj (women and child affairs), Chandana Abeyrathne (public administration), Upali Pannilage (rural development) among them; Anura Karunathilake energy minister since 20 April 2026 after Kumara Jayakody resigned on 17 April over the coal-import tender, the day the President named a commission of inquiry into it (he had beaten a no-confidence motion 153–43 on 10 April); Harshana Suriyapperuma left the House to be secretary to the Treasury on 20 June 2025; the President holds defense, finance and the digital economy, the Prime Minister education |
| The last election | Parliamentary, 14 November 2024 — the NPP 6,863,186 votes, 61.56%, 159 of 225 seats (141 from the districts and 18 from the national list), the first two-thirds majority since proportional representation began in 1989 and the first national party to win Jaffna District; the SJB 17.66%, 40 seats; the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) 8; the New Democratic Front of Ranil Wickremesinghe 5; the SLPP of the Rajapaksas 3 (from 145 in 2020); the SLMC 3; the UNP, the TNPF, the ACMC and others 7; turnout 68.93%. Presidential, 21 September 2024 (turnout 79.46%): Dissanayake 42.31% (5,634,915), Premadasa 32.76% (4,363,035), Wickremesinghe 17.27% (2,299,767), Namal Rajapaksa 2.57%; the second count 55.89% to 44.11%. Local, 6 May 2025: the NPP 43.26% and 3,927 of about 8,300 seats, the SJB 21.69%, the SLPP 9.17%, the ITAK the north; turnout 61.88% |
| Parliament | Unicameral — the Parliament of 225 (196 from 22 multi-member districts by open-list proportional representation with a 5% district threshold, 29 from the national lists by the parties' shares), five years, in Geoffrey Bawa's building of 1982 on the Diyawanna Oya at Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte; the 17th Parliament since 21 November 2024: the NPP 159, the SJB 40, ITAK 8, NDF 5, SLPP 3, SLMC 3, others 7 (five seats refilled since the election — Habeeb Rifan the newest, 24 September 2026, for the SLMC's Abdul Wazeeth); Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne (NPP) since 17 December 2024 after Asoka Ranwala resigned on 13 December over his doctorate; Deputy Speaker Rizvie Salih; Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa (SJB) since 2020; Chief Opposition Whip Gayantha Karunathilaka; 22 women, a record; the budget of 2026 passed 160–42 on 14 November 2025, the Ditwah supplementary of Rs 500 billion unanimously on 19 December; the pensions of former MPs abolished 154–2 on 17 February 2026; the Constitutional Council of the 21st Amendment vets the top appointments |
| The politics of the year | The NPP's second year in power with its two-thirds and the "system change" it promised on trial — the prosecutions of the old order: Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested 22 August 2025 over Rs 16.6 million of state funds spent on a private London trip of 2023 (bailed 26 August from a hospital bed; the case before the Fort Magistrate), the former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay arrested 25 February 2026 over the Easter attacks of 2019, the former MP Sarana Gunawardena jailed for four years on 9 June 2026, and Namal Rajapaksa, the SLPP's national organizer and heir of the family, arrested 4 September 2026 by the bribery commission over a Rs 100 million bribe alleged in SriLankan Airlines' Airbus purchases of 2013, remanded to 29 September 2026 when the Colombo Chief Magistrate rules on bail, a money-laundering case beside — the government's case that the law runs without fear or favor and the corruption of two decades is answered at last; the opposition's (the SLPP's and Premadasa's) that the arrests are timed and selective, a persecution of opponents under a "police state" — both stated (LAW 2); the 22nd Amendment of 25 September 2026 on the judges' retirement ages, its two-thirds and the black-clad opposition benches; the coal-tender scandal that took the energy minister on 17 April 2026 and the commission of inquiry; the fuel rationing of the Iran war — the QR "fuel pass" of 15 March, the state offices shut on Wednesdays from 18 March, the 25% price rise of 22 March — and the inflation of 8% by August; Ditwah's recovery (Rs 515 billion for 1,028 projects; the opposition's question of 23 September on how much is spent); the provincial council elections still unheld, the select committee's deadline of 17 December 2026 and the opposition's walkout; the executive presidency's abolition "not a priority" (1 June 2026); the IMF's seventh review unfinished at 23 September 2026 and Fitch's upgrade of 22 September |
| Next elections | Presidential by September 2029 (five years from 23 September 2024; the President may call it after four); parliamentary by November 2029 (the House dissolvable after two and a half years, from May 2027); the nine provincial councils, without elected members since 2017–19, whenever the electoral system is settled — the select committee's report due 17 December 2026, the choice between the old proportional list and the mixed system of the Act of 2017 the nub; local councils in 2029; the local elections of 6 May 2025, the last test, gave the NPP 43% against its 62% of November 2024, the SJB 22% and the SLPP 9% |
| Parties | The National People's Power (NPP, Jathika Jana Balawegaya), the alliance of 2019 around the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP — Marxist-Leninist in its insurrections of 1971 and 1987–89, parliamentary since 1994), 159 seats; the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB, "United People's Force") of Sajith Premadasa, the 2020 breakaway of the United National Party, 40, the opposition; the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK, the Federal Party of 1949), 8, the party of the Tamil north and east, its leadership disputed in the courts; Ranil Wickremesinghe's New Democratic Front (NDF), 5; the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) of the Rajapaksas (Mahinda its leader, Basil its founder, Namal its organizer), 3, from 145; the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), 3; the All Ceylon Makkal Congress, the Tamil National People's Front of Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the United National Party (UNP) of the independence, down to one seat, the Sarvajana Balaya; the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) of the Bandaranaikes without a seat for the first time since 1951 |
| Legal system | A mixed system — the Roman-Dutch civil law of the Dutch period (1656–1796) as the residual common law, English common law in commerce and crime (the Penal Code of 1883), with the personal laws of the Kandyan Sinhalese, the Thesavalamai of the Jaffna Tamils and the Muslim marriage law; the Supreme Court (the Chief Justice and up to 16 judges) the final court since the appeal to the Privy Council ended in 1971, the sole interpreter of the Constitution and the guardian of fundamental rights — Chief Justice Padman Surasena since 27 July 2025; the Court of Appeal, the High Courts of the provinces, the District, Magistrate's and Primary courts; the Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe; the Judicial Service Commission; the death penalty in law, no execution since 1976; the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1979 in force with its repeal promised; the Online Safety Act of 2024; the Bribery Commission of 1994 under the Anti-Corruption Act of 2023 the prosecutor of the year; the Office on Missing Persons (2016); the UN Human Rights Council's resolutions since 2012 (51/1 of 2022, renewed 2024) rejected by every government; the 22nd Amendment's retirement ages of 67 and 65 |
| Defense | The Sri Lanka Armed Forces — the Army (about 150,000 by the estimates, on a plan to shrink to 100,000 by 2030; Lieutenant General Nilantha Premaratne the commander since 1 August 2026), the Navy (about 40,000; Vice Admiral Damian Fernando since 1 July 2026; the SLNS Samudravijaya commissioned 4 June 2026) and the Air Force (about 25,000; Air Marshal Bandu Edirisinghe since 29 January 2025; five Kfirs upgraded by Israel Aerospace Industries for US$50 million in 2026, ten Bell 206 helicopters commissioned 23 June 2026); the President the commander in chief and minister of defense (the ministry's own name keeps the British spelling), Air Vice Marshal (retired) Sampath Thuyacontha its secretary; the Civil Security Department, and the police under public security; volunteer, no conscription; the budget of 2026 Rs 455 billion, about 1.3% of GDP, the second-largest allocation; the war of 1983–2009 against the LTTE, about 100,000 dead by the UN's estimates, ended 18 May 2009 at Nandikadal; India's IPKF of 1987–90; the defense agreement with India of 5 April 2025 (Modi's visit), the Indian and Chinese naval calls, the moratorium on foreign research vessels of 2024 and the standard procedure that followed |
| Foreign policy | Non-aligned by tradition (the Non-Aligned Movement's Colombo summit of 1976) and "India first" in security by the government's own word — the defense pact and the Trincomalee energy hub with India and the UAE of April 2025, the Sampur solar plant, India's US$4 billion of the crisis of 2022 and its Operation Sagar Bandhu after Ditwah; China the largest bilateral creditor and the builder of Hambantota port (the 99-year lease of 2017), the Port City of Colombo, the Lotus Tower, the Norochcholai plant and the expressways, its Sinopec refinery of US$3.7 billion at Hambantota agreed in January 2025; the United States the largest export market, with a 20% tariff on Sri Lankan goods since 7 August 2025; Japan the financier of the airport and of the Colombo light rail canceled in 2020 and revived in talk; the IMF program of 2023–27; the Gulf and its 1.5 million workers; the Iran war of 2026 on the doorstep — the Iranian frigate Dena sunk off the south coast on 4 March 2026, its consort the Bushehr interned at Trincomalee on 6 March and its 238 sailors repatriated 15 April, the fuel rationing that followed; the Commonwealth, SAARC, BIMSTEC and the IORA; the Tamil question at the UN Human Rights Council; the state visits of Muizzu (3 May 2026) and Tô Lâm (7 May 2026), the U.S. envoys of June 2026, the high commission opened at Wellington 28 May 2026; free electronic visas for 40 countries from 25 May 2026; Vijitha Herath the foreign minister |
| United Nations | Member since 14 December 1955 (as Ceylon, in the "package deal" of 16 states); the Security Council in 1960–61; the peacekeepers of Haiti, Lebanon, Mali and South Sudan; the Human Rights Council's resolutions on the war's accountability of 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 (30/1, co-sponsored by Sri Lanka), 2019, 2021, 2022 (51/1) and 2024, and the OHCHR's evidence project; the Colombo Plan of 1950 born here; ESCAP |
| Other memberships | The Commonwealth (1948; the CHOGM of Colombo 2013), the Non-Aligned Movement (1961; the summit of 1976), SAARC (a founder, 1985), BIMSTEC (1997), the Indian Ocean Rim Association (1997), the Colombo Plan (1950; its secretariat in Colombo), the WTO (1995; GATT 1948), the IMF and the World Bank (1950), the ADB, the AIIB, the G77, the Asian Clearing Union, the Colombo Security Conclave with India and the Maldives (2020), a dialogue partner of the SCO since 2009, the BRICS application of 2024; the Commonwealth Games since 1938 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$108.8 billion (2025) by the World Bank and the Department of Census and Statistics — Rs 32,750,844 million at market prices — against US$99.0 billion for 2024 by the IMF's World Economic Outlook of April 2026, the 71st to 81st economy of the world by the counts; the peak of about US$94 billion in 2018 before the crisis of 2022 (about US$77 billion) passed in 2024 |
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| GDP per capita | About US$5,000 (2025; US$4,516 for 2024 by the IMF) — lower-middle income, the second of South Asia after the Maldives; upper-middle income by the World Bank's classification for 2019 alone and back to lower-middle from 2020 |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$17,000 (2025; US$15,655 for 2024 by the IMF, the economy about US$343 billion in 2024 and about US$371 billion in 2025 at purchasing-power parity) — the second of South Asia after the Maldives, about half again India's |
| GDP growth | 5.0% in 2025 (the Department of Census and Statistics; 5.0% in 2024 too) after the −7.3% of 2022 and the −2.3% of 2023 of the crisis — the eleventh straight quarter of growth by the second quarter of 2026 (5.1% in the first quarter, 4.2% in the second, the IMF's reading of 23 September 2026); for 2026 the IMF's 3.0% (May 2026, with Ditwah and the war) against Fitch's 4.1% (September 2026), both stated; the tourism, the construction of the rebuilding, the apparel, the remittances and the IT services the drivers; the Middle East war and the oil price, the U.S. tariff, El Niño and the cyclone's recovery the risks the IMF names |
| Economy by sector | Services about 55% of GDP (2025) — the trade, the transport and the port, the finance, the IT and the tourism; industry about 25% — the apparel factories of the free trade zones (MAS, Brandix, Hirdaramani; the export processing zones since Katunayake in 1978), the construction, the tea and rubber processing, the cement, the Sapugaskanda refinery; agriculture about 8% — the paddy of two seasons, the tea (about 250 million kg a year), the rubber, the coconut, the cinnamon (about 90% of the world's true cinnamon), the pepper and cloves, the fisheries — with about a quarter of the workers on the land; the taxes on products the rest |
| Currency and prices | The rupee at about Rs 330 to the dollar (25 September 2026), floated by the Central Bank in March 2022 (from Rs 200 to about Rs 370 in weeks), steadied on the IMF program to about Rs 290 in 2024 and down about 9% in the twelve months to September 2026 on the oil bill of the war; inflation by the Colombo Consumers' Price Index 8.0% in August 2026 (core 5.1%; 7.3% in July, 6.8% in June, 5.5% in May) after the falling prices of September 2024 to mid-2025 and the peak of 69.8% in September 2022 — the Central Bank's target 5%, its rate 8.75% since 26 May 2026 (a rise of a full point), the next decision 30 September 2026; the Colombo Stock Exchange's All Share index at records in 2025 by the reports |
| Tourism | A record 2,362,521 visitors in 2025 (2,053,465 in 2024; the old peak of 2.33 million of 2018 passed), US$3.22 billion of earnings — India 27%, then the UK, Russia, Germany, China, Australia and France; the target of 3 million for 2026 out of reach by the estimates, the arrivals of January–August 2026 about 2% below 2025 and the earnings about 10% below on the war, the airfares and the fuel; free electronic visas for 40 countries from 25 May 2026; the beaches, the cultural triangle, the hill country and its train to Ella, Yala's leopards, the whales, the surf of Arugam Bay, the Ayurveda; the Easter bombings of 2019 and the pandemic the two collapses; Vijitha Herath the tourism minister |
| Apparel, tea and industry | Apparel and textiles US$4.91 billion of exports in 2025 (+5.3%, about 36% of goods exports; MAS, Brandix and Hirdaramani; Victoria's Secret, Nike and Marks & Spencer the clients; the U.S. tariff of 20% since August 2025 the weight), about 300,000 workers, most of them women; tea US$1.51 billion (about 250 million kg; the largest exporter of orthodox black tea, the Colombo tea auction since 1883, Dilmah the brand); rubber products US$946 million (the solid tires); coconut products US$1.23 billion (+43%); the spices US$450 million; the gems and jewelry; the ICT services US$1.64 billion; the cement, the Sapugaskanda refinery of 1969 (50,000 barrels a day), the ports; the Board of Investment (1978) and the Port City's special economic zone (2022), the Hambantota industrial zone; the fertilizer ban of 2021 the tea's and the paddy's crisis |
| Agriculture and fisheries | The paddy on about 900,000 ha in the maha and yala seasons, the island near self-sufficient in rice; the tea of about 200,000 ha (the plantation companies and the smallholders, who grow about three-quarters), the rubber of about 130,000 ha, the coconut of about 440,000 ha, the cinnamon of Galle and Matara, the pepper, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg of the Kandyan gardens, the vegetables of Nuwara Eliya, the fruit; the fisheries of about 400,000 to 500,000 metric tons a year — the tuna of the deep sea, the prawns of the lagoons; the EU's fishing ban of 2015–16 lifted, the Indian trawlers of the Palk Strait the quarrel; the organic-fertilizer ban of April–November 2021 that cut the paddy by a fifth and the tea, the food crisis of 2022; the elephants and the peacocks the pests of the dry zone; Ditwah's losses on the paddy of the Mahaweli and the vegetables of the hills |
| Services and finance | The banks — the Bank of Ceylon (1939) and People's Bank (1961) of the state, Commercial Bank, Hatton National, Sampath, NDB, DFCC and Seylan of the private; the Colombo Stock Exchange (1985; about 290 companies), John Keells, Hayleys, Aitken Spence, LOLC, Dialog (Axiata) and SLT-Mobitel the conglomerates; the IT and BPO services of about US$1.6 billion (WSO2, Virtusa, 99x; the Colombo hubs of the London Stock Exchange Group and HSBC); the Port City of Colombo, 269 ha reclaimed from the sea in 2014–19 by CHEC of China, its commission of 2021 and its first towers; the shipping of Colombo port; the remittances of US$8.08 billion the largest foreign earner; the Central Bank of 1950 under Weerasinghe; the sovereign default of 12 April 2022, the first, and the restructuring completed 20 December 2024 — US$12.55 billion of bonds exchanged, the Official Creditor Committee's deal of June 2024, China EXIM's and the CDB's beside; Fitch B− (22 September 2026, from CCC+), Moody's Caa1, S&P CCC+ |
| Trade | Exports US$17.25 billion in 2025 (+5.6%) — goods US$13.58 billion (apparel, tea, rubber, coconut, spices, gems, seafood; the United States 23%, US$3.0 billion; the EU about 24% — Germany, Italy, the Netherlands; the UK US$929 million; India US$1.04 billion, +17%; the UAE, China), services US$3.67 billion (the ICT, the logistics, the construction abroad); imports about US$21.5 billion (the fuel, the machinery, the textiles for the apparel, the vehicles after the import ban of 2020–25 was lifted in February 2025, the wheat, the sugar, the medicines; India 23%, China 17%, the UAE 10%, Malaysia, Singapore); the goods deficit of about US$8 billion covered by the remittances (US$8.08 billion) and the tourism (US$3.22 billion), the current account in surplus since 2023; the exports of January–August 2026 past US$12 billion; the free-trade agreements with India (2000), Pakistan (2005), Singapore (2018) and Thailand (2024), the EU's GSP+ since 2017; the U.S. tariff of 20% |
| Energy | Electricity to everyone since 2016 — about 5,000 MW installed: hydro of about 1,900 MW (the Mahaweli, Laxapana and Samanalawewa), the 900-MW Lakvijaya coal plant of Norochcholai (built by China, 2011–14; about a third of the power), the oil plants of Kelanitissa and Kerawalapitiya, the wind of Mannar (the state's 100-MW Thambapavani; Adani's 484-MW Mannar–Pooneryn project abandoned by Adani in February 2025 over the tariff) and the solar of the rooftops and of Sampur with India; about half the power renewable in a wet year, the target 70% by 2030; the Ceylon Electricity Board of 1969 dissolved 9 March 2026 into the companies of the Electricity Act of 2024; the tariff cuts of 2024–25 and the rise of 2026; the coal-tender scandal of April 2026; oil imported in full — the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (1961), Lanka IOC (2003), Sinopec (2023) and RM Parks–Shell (2023) the retailers, the Sapugaskanda refinery of 1969, Sinopec's refinery of 200,000 barrels a day at Hambantota agreed in January 2025 (US$3.7 billion, the largest investment ever promised); the fuel rationing of the Iran war (March 2026); the Mannar Basin gas unlit; the LNG terminal of Kerawalapitiya planned |
| Labor and wages | The labor force about 8.5 million, the participation about 49% (men about 70%, women about 32%); unemployment about 4% (2025; the young 20% and more); about a quarter on the land, a quarter in industry, half in services, the informal work about 60%; the public service of about 1.3 million and its cuts by attrition; the minimum monthly wage raised to about Rs 27,000 in 2025 by the budget's provisions, the estate workers' daily wage of the gazette of 2024 and its litigation, the public-sector pay raised in the budgets of 2025 and 2026; the emigration of about 300,000 a year for work, the doctors and nurses to the NHS and the Gulf; the Employees' Provident Fund; the state offices shut on Wednesdays from 18 March 2026 to save fuel |
| Public finances | Revenue about 15% of GDP in 2025–26, the IMF program's floor (8.2% in 2022, among the lowest of the world after the tax cuts of 2019 that seeded the crisis) — the VAT at 18% since January 2024, the income tax, the excise; the budget of 2026 (presented 7 November 2025, passed 160–42 on 14 November): spending Rs 8.98 trillion, revenue Rs 5.3 trillion, a deficit of 5.1% of GDP and a primary surplus of 2.5%, Rs 455 billion for defense and Rs 555 billion for health; the Ditwah supplementary of Rs 500 billion (19 December 2025, unanimous); the deficit of 2025 about 4.5% with a primary surplus for a third year; public debt about 92% to 97% of GDP by the counts (from 128% in 2022), the interest about 41% to 46% of revenue; the IMF's Extended Fund Facility of 20 March 2023 — US$2.9 billion over four years, about US$2.4 billion drawn after the combined fifth and sixth reviews of 27 May 2026 (US$695 million), the seventh review's talks continuing after the mission of 10–23 September 2026, the primary-surplus target of 2.3% of GDP from 2027; the debt restructuring "largely complete" (the bonds of 20 December 2024, the bilaterals of June 2024, China EXIM's of 2024); the budget of 2027 due in November 2026; the Auditor General Samudika Jayaratna, the first woman in the post, since 5 February 2026 |
| Income classification | Lower-middle income by the World Bank (about US$5,000 a head; upper-middle for 2019 alone); high human development (0.776); a developing country restructured out of default in 2024, rated B− by Fitch since 22 September 2026 |
Transport & infrastructure
| Airports | Bandaranaike International (CMB) at Katunayake, 32 km north of Colombo (1967), the gateway — the country's airports handled about 10.2 million international passengers in 2025, the most since 2018, 46 airlines to 72 destinations in 34 countries and 64,340 aircraft movements; the second terminal planned again with Japan after the crisis stalled it; Mattala Rajapaksa International (HRI) at Hambantota (2013; "the emptiest international airport in the world," run since 2024 by an Indian–Russian venture), Ratmalana (the domestic field and the old international of 1938), Jaffna (Palaly, 2019) and Batticaloa; SriLankan Airlines (1979, as Air Lanka; the state's, its losses, its Airbus contracts of 2013 the bribery case of 2026 and its sale sought since 2023), FitsAir, Cinnamon Air |
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| Ports | The Port of Colombo — 8,291,178 TEUs in 2025 (+6.4%, the record; about 7.8 million in 2024), the busiest container port of South Asia and its transshipment hub, about half its boxes India's: the Jaya Container Terminal of the Ports Authority, the South Asia Gateway Terminal (John Keells and APM, 1999), the Colombo International Container Terminals (China Merchants, 2013), the East Container Terminal of the state and the Colombo West International Terminal of Adani (51%, with John Keells and the Ports Authority; opened April 2025; about US$800 million by the reports, on Adani's own funds after the U.S. loan was dropped), the Port City beside; Hambantota (2010; the 99-year lease of December 2017 to China Merchants for US$1.12 billion, the "debt trap" of the debate, the car and bunkering port), Trincomalee (the deep harbor and the British oil-tank farm of 99 tanks, with Lanka IOC), Galle, Kankesanthurai (the ferry to Nagapattinam since 2023), Oluvil; the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (1979) |
| Railways | Sri Lanka Railways, the state's — about 1,560 km of 1,676-mm broad gauge, the first train from Colombo to Ambepussa on 27 December 1864 (public service from 1865) for the coffee, the Main Line to Kandy (1867) and on through the tea to Nanu Oya and Badulla (1924) with the loops of the hill country and the Nine Arch Bridge of Ella (1921); the Coast Line to Galle and Matara (the Beliatta extension of 2019, the first new line since independence), the Northern Line to Jaffna and Kankesanthurai restored 2014–15 after the war on India's credit, the Puttalam, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Kelani Valley lines; about 400 stations, Colombo Fort (1917) the hub; diesel, no electrification; the Coast Line's commuter trains packed; Chinese and Indian coaches |
| Roads | About 12,000 km of A- and B-class highways of the Road Development Authority among about 118,000 km in all — the A1 Colombo–Kandy road of the 1820s, the A2 along the coast to Hambantota, the A9 to Jaffna, the "highway of the war," reopened 2009; the expressways of about 270 km — the E01 Southern (Kottawa–Galle on 27 November 2011, the first; Matara 2014, Hambantota 2020; 200 km), the E02 Outer Circular of Colombo (2014–19), the E03 to the airport (2013), the E04 Central (Mirigama–Kurunegala open since 2022, the Kadawatha and Dambulla sections stalled by the crisis), the E06 of Hambantota; the Port Access Elevated Highway of Colombo under construction with China; about 8 million vehicles registered — some 1.2 million three-wheelers, some 5 million motorcycles; the buses of the SLTB and the private operators the mass transit; left-hand traffic; the vehicle import ban of 2020–25; tolls on the expressways |
| City transport | No metro or tram — Colombo's buses of the SLTB and the private operators from the Central Bus Stand of Pettah, the commuter trains of the Coast and Main lines, the three-wheelers metered by app (PickMe, Uber), the Kelani Valley line; the Colombo light rail of Japan canceled in September 2020 and revived in talk since 2024; the Marine Drive and the Baseline Road, the Port Access Elevated Highway; Kandy's traffic and its planned transit hub; Jaffna's bicycles |
| Utilities | Electricity to 100% by the successors of the CEB; water — the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (1975) pipes to about half the households, the Ambatale works of Colombo, the wells and the tanks the rest, the chronic kidney disease of the dry-zone wells the concern; sewers only in Colombo; telecoms — some 30 million mobile connections, Dialog (Axiata, which absorbed Airtel Lanka in 2024), SLT-Mobitel (the state's, its sale sought) and Hutch; about two-thirds of the people online by the estimates, Starlink licensed in 2025; the post since 1798; the Lotus Tower of 2019 (351.5 m), the tallest self-supported tower of South Asia |
| The country | Sigiriya's rock and Kashyapa's frescoes; Anuradhapura's dagobas and the Bodhi tree; Polonnaruwa's Gal Vihara; Dambulla's caves; Kandy's Temple of the Tooth and the Esala Perahera of elephants and dancers; the tea country of Nuwara Eliya ("Little England"), Ella's Nine Arch Bridge and the train from Kandy; Adam's Peak at dawn; Horton Plains' World's End; Galle's fort; the beaches of the south and east; Yala's leopards, Udawalawe's and Minneriya's elephants, the whales of Mirissa; the Sinharaja; Jaffna's Nallur temple and fort; Trincomalee's Koneswaram; Colombo's Galle Face, Pettah, the Gangaramaya, the Lotus Tower, the Port City; Arugam Bay's surf; the dolphins of Kalpitiya; the gem pits of Ratnapura |
History in dates
| c. 35,000 BC | Balangoda Man — the Fa-Hien and Batadomba caves of the wet zone hold the oldest human remains of South Asia, about 37,000 years old; the Balangoda culture of microliths to about 1000 BC; the Veddas its heirs |
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| c. 543 BC – 377 BC | The Mahavamsa's legend: Prince Vijaya from Bengal lands at Tambapanni on the day of the Buddha's passing, the lion ancestry of the Sinhalese kings; Anuradhapura founded by Pandukabhaya (traditionally 377 BC, or 437), the capital of some 1,300 years |
| 247 BC | Mahinda, son of the Emperor Ashoka, converts King Devanampiya Tissa at Mihintale; his sister Sanghamitta brings the Bodhi sapling (288 BC); Buddhism the faith of the Sinhalese, the Mahavihara of Anuradhapura, the tanks and the dagobas |
| 161 BC – 137 BC | Dutugemunu defeats the Tamil king Elara at Anuradhapura and unites the island under one crown; the Ruwanwelisaya; the Mahavamsa's hero |
| c. 29 BC – 495 | The Pali canon written down at Aluvihara near Matale under Vattagamani Abhaya; the Chola and Pandya interventions and the Sinhalese restorations; the Jetavanaramaya of Mahasena (3rd century), the tallest brick monument of the ancient world; Kashyapa's Sigiriya (477–495) |
| 993 – 1070 | The Cholas of Rajaraja I sack Anuradhapura and rule from Polonnaruwa; Vijayabahu I expels them in 1070 and makes Polonnaruwa the capital |
| 1153 – 1215 | Parakramabahu the Great — the Parakrama Samudra and "not a drop of water to the sea," the Gal Vihara, the invasion of Burma, Polonnaruwa's peak; Nissanka Malla; Magha of Kalinga's invasion of 1215 and the drift of the capitals south — Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Kurunegala, Gampola, Kotte (1412); the Tamil kingdom of Jaffna in the north (13th century – 1619) |
| 1405 – 1467 | Zheng He's Ming fleets and the Galle Trilingual Inscription of 1409 in Chinese, Tamil and Persian; the Ming carry off King Alakeshvara in 1411; Parakramabahu VI of Kotte (1412–67) unites the island for the last time before the Europeans |
| 1505 – 1597 | Lourenço de Almeida's Portuguese fleet at Colombo (1505); the Kotte kingdom split in 1521; King Dharmapala baptized (1557) and wills Kotte to Portugal (1597); the Catholics of the coast, the forts, the cinnamon monopoly; the kingdom of Kandy (1592) holds the interior |
| 1638 – 1658 | Rajasinghe II of Kandy invites the Dutch East India Company; Batticaloa (1638), Galle (1640), Colombo (1656) and Jaffna (1658) fall — the Dutch coast of 1658–1796, the Roman-Dutch law, the Burghers, the canals and the Galle fort; Robert Knox's captivity in Kandy (1660–79) |
| 1796 – 1815 | The British take the Dutch coast (1796; the Crown Colony of Ceylon of 1802, the first crown colony); the Kandyan Convention of 2 March 1815 — the last king, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, deposed and the whole island British for the first time; the Uva Rebellion of 1818 crushed |
| 1833 – 1864 | The Colebrooke–Cameron reforms of 1833 (one government for the island, English schools, a Legislative Council); the coffee planting of the hills and the Tamil laborers brought from India for it; the Kandy road, the first railway (Colombo–Ambepussa, 1864) |
| 1867 – 1919 | James Taylor's tea at Loolecondera (1867) as the coffee blight kills the coffee; Thomas Lipton (1890); "Ceylon tea" the island's name to the world; the Buddhist revival of Colonel Olcott and Anagarika Dharmapala (1880); the Ceylon National Congress (1919) |
| 1931 | The Donoughmore Constitution — universal adult suffrage, the first in Asia and among the first of the colonial world, and the State Council; the malaria epidemic of 1934–35; Japan bombs Colombo and Trincomalee on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1942, Mountbatten's South East Asia Command at Kandy |
| 4 February 1948 | Independence as the Dominion of Ceylon under the Soulbury Constitution, D. S. Senanayake the first Prime Minister; the Citizenship Acts of 1948–49 strip the Indian Tamils of the estates of the vote; the lion flag |
| 1956 – 1960 | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's SLFP wins on "Sinhala Only" (the Official Language Act of 1956); the riots of 1958; Bandaranaike shot by a monk on 25 September 1959 and dead the next day; Sirimavo Bandaranaike the world's first woman prime minister on 21 July 1960; the nationalizations, the Sirima–Shastri pact of 1964 on the Indian Tamils |
| 1971 – 1972 | The JVP's insurrection of April 1971, Rohana Wijeweera's youth in arms, thousands dead; the Republic of Sri Lanka of 22 May 1972, the name changed and the Crown gone; the standardization of the universities; the land reform |
| 1977 – 1978 | J. R. Jayewardene's UNP landslide of 1977 (five-sixths of the seats), the open economy, the free trade zones and the Mahaweli; the Constitution of 7 September 1978 and the executive presidency; the Tamil parties' Vaddukoddai Resolution for a separate Eelam (1976) |
| 23 July 1983 | Black July — the anti-Tamil pogrom after the LTTE's ambush of 13 soldiers at Jaffna: hundreds to 3,000 dead, the war of 26 years begun; the Tigers of Velupillai Prabhakaran; the Tamil diaspora |
| 29 July 1987 | The Indo–Sri Lanka Accord of Rajiv Gandhi and Jayewardene — the 13th Amendment and the provincial councils, Tamil an official language, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (1987–90) and its war with the LTTE; the JVP's second insurrection (1987–89; tens of thousands dead, Wijeweera killed in 1989) |
| 1991 – 2002 | Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber at Sriperumbudur (21 May 1991); President Premadasa killed on May Day 1993; the Central Bank bombing of 31 January 1996 (91 dead); Chandrika Kumaratunga (1994–2005); the ceasefire of 2002 brokered by Norway |
| 26 December 2004 | The Indian Ocean tsunami — about 35,000 dead and 500,000 displaced, the worst disaster in the island's history; the train at Peraliya (about 1,700 dead), the worst rail disaster on Earth |
| 18 May 2009 | The war ends at Nandikadal lagoon — Prabhakaran dead, the LTTE destroyed, about 40,000 civilians dead in the last months by the UN's estimates (disputed by the government), 300,000 in the Menik Farm camps; Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005–15) the victor; China's Hambantota and Port City the debt; the 18th Amendment (2010) |
| 8 January 2015 | Maithripala Sirisena defeats Rajapaksa; the 19th Amendment (2015) curbs the presidency; the constitutional crisis of October–December 2018 (Sirisena's sacking of Wickremesinghe reversed by the Supreme Court); the Easter Sunday bombings of 21 April 2019 — 269 dead in three churches and three hotels; Gotabaya Rajapaksa elected 16 November 2019, the 20th Amendment (2020) |
| 2022 | The economic crisis — the tax cuts of 2019, the pandemic and the fertilizer ban of 2021 behind it; the queues for fuel and gas, the 13-hour blackouts, inflation of 70%; the sovereign default of 12 April 2022, the first; the Aragalaya of Galle Face ("Gota go home") — the President's house stormed 9 July, Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees 13 July and resigns 14 July, Ranil Wickremesinghe elected by Parliament 20 July; the 21st Amendment; the IMF's staff agreement of September |
| 20 March 2023 – 20 December 2024 | The IMF's Extended Fund Facility of US$2.9 billion; the VAT, the electricity tariff and the income tax; growth returns in 2024; the debt restructured — the Official Creditor Committee (June 2024), the bondholders' exchange of US$12.55 billion completed 20 December 2024, Fitch and Moody's out of default |
| 21 September – 14 November 2024 | Anura Kumara Dissanayake elected President with 42.31% and the second count, the first from the left and from outside the two old parties; Harini Amarasuriya Prime Minister (24 September); the NPP's 159 seats and 61.6% of 14 November, the first two-thirds under proportional representation, Jaffna won; the census of 19 December 2024 |
| 2025 | Modi's visit and the defense pact of 5 April; the local elections of 6 May (the NPP 43%); the vehicle imports return; Chief Justice Surasena (27 July); Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested 22 August; the budget of 2026 by two-thirds (14 November); the record tourism and remittances; Cyclone Ditwah of 27–29 November — 644 dead, 183 missing, 1.46 million displaced, the emergency of 28 November, India's Operation Sagar Bandhu, the Rs 500 billion supplementary |
| 2026 | The T20 World Cup co-hosted (7 February – 8 March); the Iran war — the Dena sunk off the south coast (4 March), the Bushehr interned at Trincomalee (6 March), the fuel pass (15 March); the CEB dissolved (9 March); the energy minister out over the coal tender (17 April); the IMF's US$695 million (27 May); the rate rise to 8.75% (26 May); Rumesh Tharanga's 92.62 m (4 June); the new Army commander (1 August); Namal Rajapaksa arrested (4 September); Fitch's B− (22 September); the 22nd Amendment passed 158–63 (25 September) |
Records & firsts
| The first woman prime minister | Sirimavo Bandaranaike, sworn in on 21 July 1960, the first woman head of government anywhere in the world; her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga President (1994–2005); Harini Amarasuriya the third woman Prime Minister (2024–) |
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| The oldest planted tree | The Sri Maha Bodhi of Anuradhapura, grown from a cutting of the Buddha's bo tree brought by Sanghamitta and planted in 288 BC — the oldest tree in the world with a recorded planting date |
| The first universal suffrage of Asia | The Donoughmore Constitution of 1931 gave every adult of Ceylon the vote, the first in Asia and among the first in any colony — 17 years before independence; the free education of 1945 and the free health of the same decade the dividends |
| The tea | Ceylon tea — from James Taylor's first field of 1867 to about 250 million kg a year; the largest exporter of orthodox black tea and among the four largest tea producers; the Colombo tea auction of 1883, among the oldest and the largest of its kind |
| The cinnamon | About 90% of the world's true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), the spice for which the Portuguese came in 1505, grown on the southwest coast of Galle and Matara |
| The gems | The Star of Adam, 1,404.49 carats, found at Ratnapura in 2015, the largest blue star sapphire known; the Blue Belle of Asia (392 carats); the "Ceylon sapphire" of Princess Diana's engagement ring; the island the "Ratna-Dweepa," the island of gems, of the ancients |
| The graphite | The purest vein graphite mined anywhere on Earth, from the pits of Bogala and Kahatagaha — the pencils of the world once came from Ceylon |
| The hydraulic civilization | Some 30,000 ancient tanks and the sluice (bisokotuwa) invented by the 3rd century BC; the Parakrama Samudra of 1153; the oldest continuously worked irrigation system on Earth by its claims |
| The tallest of the ancient world | The Jetavanaramaya of Anuradhapura, 122 m when built in the 3rd century — the tallest brick structure ever raised in the ancient world and the third-tallest structure after the two great pyramids of Giza |
| The tallest tower of South Asia | The Lotus Tower of Colombo, 351.5 m, opened 16 September 2019 — the tallest self-supported structure in South Asia |
| The port | Colombo — 8.29 million TEUs in 2025, the busiest container port of South Asia and its transshipment hub; Trincomalee among the deepest natural harbors in the world |
| The cricket | The World Cup of 1996; Muttiah Muralitharan's 800 Test wickets, the most ever, and his 534 in one-day internationals; Kumar Sangakkara's 28,000 international runs; the co-host of the T20 World Cup of 2026 |
| The elephants | The Gathering of Minneriya — some 300 elephants at the tank in the dry season, the largest congregation of Asian elephants anywhere; the Pinnawala orphanage of 1975, the first of its kind; Yala's leopards among the densest on Earth by the claims |
| The health and the letters | The longest lives, the fewest infant deaths and the highest literacy of South Asia (77 to 78 years; about 5 per 1,000; 92% to 96%); the Human Development Index of 0.776, the region's highest; the free hospitals and schools of the 1930s and 1940s |
| The first default | The sovereign default of 12 April 2022, the first in the island's history, on US$51 billion of external debt — and the restructuring finished by 20 December 2024, 32 months later, with the bondholders, the bilateral creditors and China |
| The word | "Serendipity," coined by Horace Walpole in 1754 from Serendib, the old Arab name of the island, after the fairy tale of "The Three Princes of Serendip" |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Sri Lanka?
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka — Śrī Laṅkā Prajātāntrika Samājavādī Janarajaya in Sinhala, Ilaṅkai Jaṉanāyaka Sōsalisak Kuṭiyarasu in Tamil — the name the Constitution of 7 September 1978 gave the republic that had been proclaimed on 22 May 1972 as the "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka," ending 24 years of the Dominion of Ceylon that had been independent of Britain since 4 February 1948. "Lanka" is the island's own name in the Sanskrit and Pali of the epics and the chronicles (the Lanka of Ravana in the Ramayana), "Sri" the honorific "resplendent" put before it in 1972; "Ceylon," the name of the tea and of the colony, descends by way of the Portuguese "Ceilão" and the Arabic "Sailan" from "Sihala," the Pali name of the Sinhalese people, "of the lion." To the Greeks and Romans it was Taprobane, to the Arabs and Persians Serendib, from which Horace Walpole coined "serendipity" in 1754. It is the island nation of 21.8 million people off the southern tip of India, a republic of two official languages, Sinhala and Tamil, with English as the link language between them.
What is the capital of Sri Lanka?
Two, by function: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the legislative and administrative capital, where the Parliament has sat on its island in the Diyawanna Oya since 29 April 1982 — the medieval capital of the Kotte kingdom (1412–1597) revived by J. R. Jayewardene as a suburb of about 116,000 people (the census of 2012) to the east of Colombo; and Colombo, the commercial capital and the seat of the President, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, the port city the Portuguese fortified in 1518 and the British made the capital of Ceylon — about 750,000 people in the city by the census of 2012 (about 560,000 within the municipal council) and about 5 million in the Western Province conurbation that runs from Negombo past Dehiwala–Mount Lavinia and Moratuwa toward Kalutara, the Galle Face green, the Pettah bazaar, the Fort of the banks and the Central Bank, the 351.5-m Lotus Tower and the Port City reclaimed from the sea by China. Kandy (about 100,000 in the city), the hill capital of the last kingdom and of the Temple of the Tooth, is the second city in standing; Galle, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Ratnapura follow. Gampaha (2,433,685), Colombo (2,374,461) and Kurunegala (1,760,829) are the most populous districts by the census of 2024.
How big is Sri Lanka, and how many people live there?
65,610 km² (25,332 sq mi) by the usual count, 65,612 by some — about the 120th country of the world by area, about the size of West Virginia or a fifth of Britain: a pear-shaped island 432 km from Point Pedro in the north to Dondra Head in the south and 224 km across, the main island of 64,058 km² (the 25th-largest island on Earth) with the Jaffna Peninsula, Mannar Island, Delft and the islets of the north and east, 30 km from India across the Palk Strait at the shoals of Adam's Bridge. The census of 19 December 2024 counted 21,763,170 people (the final report of April 2025; the preliminary count was 21,781,800), 1.4 million more than in 2012 on a growth of 0.5% a year — about 23.3 million by the UN's estimate for 2026, which models the emigrants the census does not count, both figures stated: about 332 people to the square kilometer by the census, 372 by the UN, the Western Province holding 28.1% of everyone and the Northern 5.3%, Colombo District at 3,549 to the square kilometer and Mullaitivu at 50. Sinhalese 74.1%, Sri Lankan Tamils 12.3%, Sri Lankan Moors 10.5%, Indian Tamils 2.8%; Buddhists 69.8%, Hindus 12.6%, Muslims 10.7%, Christians 6.9%. The median age is 35, the oldest of South Asia; 220,761 births were registered in 2024 against 171,194 deaths, the fewest births in decades, and net emigration ran at about 177,000.
What are the highest and lowest points of Sri Lanka?
Pidurutalagala, "Mount Pedro," 2,524 m (8,281 ft), above the hill town of Nuwara Eliya in the Central Highlands — closed to walkers as a military and broadcasting summit, so that Kirigalpotta (2,388 m) and Totapola (2,357 m) in Horton Plains are the highest a hiker reaches; Adam's Peak (Sri Pada), 2,243 m, the conical sacred mountain whose summit "footprint" is the Buddha's to the Buddhists, Shiva's to the Hindus, Adam's to the Muslims and St. Thomas's to some Christians, climbed by night in the pilgrimage season of December to May; the Knuckles range (Gombaniya, 1,906 m) and Namunukula (about 2,035 m) in Uva. The highlands are the island's water tower, the source of all 103 rivers, the Mahaweli (335 km) the longest, and of the waterfalls of Bambarakanda (263 m, the highest) and Diyaluma; the plateau of Horton Plains ends at "World's End," a drop of about 870 m. The lowest point is the Indian Ocean at sea level — the lagoons of Jaffna, Batticaloa, Puttalam and Negombo, the salt pans of Hambantota and the coral-limestone shelf of the Jaffna Peninsula that rises only a few meters above the Palk Strait. The mean elevation is about 228 m: three-quarters of the island is the coastal and dry-zone lowland under 100 m on which the ancient kings built their reservoirs.
What currency does Sri Lanka use?
The Sri Lankan rupee (ISO code LKR; Rs or රු), of 100 cents — issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, founded 28 August 1950 and made independent by the Central Bank Act of 2023, under Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe since 8 April 2022, in notes of Rs 20 to Rs 5,000 that carry the island's birds, butterflies and dancers. The rupee traded at about Rs 330 to the U.S. dollar on 25 September 2026, about 9% weaker than a year before and about 6% weaker over 2026 by the Central Bank's count to August as the oil bill of the Iran war weighed on it — against the record low of about Rs 370 in the crisis of May 2022, after the Bank floated it in March of that year, and the recovery to about Rs 290 in 2024 on the IMF program. The Bank's Overnight Policy Rate stands at 8.75% after a rise of a full point on 26 May 2026, held on 22 July, with the next decision due on 30 September 2026; inflation by the Colombo Consumers' Price Index ran at 8.0% in August 2026 (the core rate 5.1%) against the Bank's target of 5%, after a year of falling prices from September 2024 to mid-2025 and the peak of 69.8% in September 2022. The official reserves stood at US$6,905 million at the end of August 2026. Clocks keep Sri Lanka Standard Time, UTC+5:30 all year, the same as India's; Sri Lanka drives on the left.
Who governs Sri Lanka?
A unitary semi-presidential republic under the Constitution of 1978: an executive President, elected directly for five years, is head of state, head of the government and of the Cabinet and commander in chief; a Prime Minister leads the government's business in the unicameral Parliament of 225, elected for five years by proportional representation. On 27 September 2026 the President is Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National People's Power (NPP), the alliance built around the Marxist-rooted Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna he has led since 2014 — elected on 21 September 2024 with 42.31% of the first preferences and 55.89% after the second count, the first Sri Lankan election decided on preferences and the first won from outside the two old parties, sworn in on 23 September 2024; he keeps the ministries of defense, finance and the digital economy. The Prime Minister is Harini Amarasuriya (NPP), since 24 September 2024, a sociologist and the third woman in the post after Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Kumaratunga, who also holds education. The NPP won 159 of the 225 seats with 61.56% of the vote on 14 November 2024, the first two-thirds majority under proportional representation; Sajith Premadasa's Samagi Jana Balawegaya (40 seats) leads the opposition, with the Tamil ITAK (8), Ranil Wickremesinghe's New Democratic Front (5), the Rajapaksas' SLPP (3, from 145) and the Muslim Congress (3) beside it. Vijitha Herath is foreign minister, Bimal Rathnayake transport minister and Leader of the House, Harshana Nanayakkara justice minister, Ananda Wijepala public security minister, Nalinda Jayatissa health minister; Jagath Wickramaratne is the Speaker and Padman Surasena the Chief Justice. The next presidential election is due by September 2029 and the parliamentary by November 2029; the nine provincial councils of 1987 have had no elected members since 2017–19, and the 341 local councils were elected on 6 May 2025.
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