 |
|
OFFICIAL NAME
|
 |
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka |
|---|---|---|
|
GEOGRAPHY
|
Island in the Indian Ocean south of India near major sea lanes, mostly low, flat to rolling plains, with mountains in south-central interior. | |
|
AREA
|
66,000 sq km / 25,483 sq miles | |
|
COMPARATIVE
|
Slightly larger than West Virginia | |
|
POPULATION
|
19,905,165 (2003 estimate) 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; as of year end 2000, approximately 65,000 were housed in 131 refugee camps in south India, another 40,000 lived outside the Indian camps, and more than 200,000 Tamils have sought refuge in the West (July 2004 estimate) |
|
|
CAPITAL
|
Colombo |
|
|
LITERACY
|
97% (age 15+ and can read and write) | |
|
LANGUAGE
|
Official: Sinhalese |
|
|
RELIGION
|
Buddhist 70% Hindu 15% Christian 8% Muslim 7% |
|
|
POLITICS
|
Won independence from UK in 1948, republic government | |
|
INCOME
|
Per capita income = US$ 1,010 a year | |
|
CURRENCY
|
Sri Lankan Rupee (Rs) | |
|
TIME ZONE
|
GMT/UTC +6 | |
|
SOURCES
|
Statistics provided by a variety of sources, but mostly the U.S. State Department, the U.N. Statistics Division, and BBC News. |
Country Profile
Portals
- OurLanka.com - Sri Lankan exclusive web directory for Internet sites of Sri Lanka. Links to the best of lankan news, sports, business, finance, computers, weather, entertainment, music, government, embassies and much more.
- SriLanka.com - Sri Lanka news, travel, and exports information from SriLanka.com. Visit us online to find exporters from Sri Lanka across a variety of products, places of tourist interest, the best travel and destination deals, and much more.
- atSriLanka.com - travel portal
News: Country-Specific
News: Asia General
- Channel News Asia (all Asia)
- World News Asia (all Asia)
Travel
- Tourism Board Official web site of Sri Lanka Tourist Board
- Ministry of Tourism - Government site
- Lonely Planet/Sri Lanka
- U.S. State Department Travel/Sri Lanka consular page
Map
<< Back to Country Profiles
