Country Profile

Name: The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Location: An island in the Indian Ocean is located to the south of the Indian subcontinent. It lies between 5° 55' and 9° 55' north of the equator and between the eastern longitudes 79° 42' and 81° 52'.

Area: 65,610 sq km (25,332 sq miles) [Land: 64,740 sq km  Water: 870 sq km]

Climate: Tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to ctober)  

Average Temperature: 27ºC  (In the higher elevations it can be quite cool with temperatures going down to 16ºC)

Average annual rainfall: 1861mm

President: Mahinda Rajapakse ((since 19 November 2005)

Prime Minister: Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka (since 2005)

Population: 19.4 million (UN, 2005)

Population growth rate: 0.78% (2006 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female ,under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female ,15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female ,65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female ,total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 24.1% , 15-64 years: 68.6% ,65 years and over: 7.3% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 15.51 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate: 6.52 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Median age: total: 29.8 years ,male: 28.7 years ,female: 30.9 years (2006 est.)

Suffrage: 18 years of age

Net migration rate: -1.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Capital: Colombo (commercial), Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (administrative)

Major languages: Sinhala (National language), Tamil (National language), English

Ethnic Groups: Sinhalese (74%) ,Sri Lankan Tamils (12.6%), Indian Tamils (5.5%), Muslim (7.1%), others(0.8%)

Life expectancy: 73.41years (total population),  70.83 years (men), 76.12 years (women) (2006 est)

Literacy: 92.3(total population) 94.8% (male) 90% (female) (2003 est)

Monetary unit: Sri Lankan rupee

Main exports: Clothing and textiles, tea, gems, rubber, coconuts

GNI per capita: US $1,010 (World Bank, 2005)

Internet domain: .lk

International dialling code: +94

Time zone: UTS/GMT +5:30 hours

Unesco heritage sites:  Sacred City of Anuradhapura (1982) , Ancient City of Polonnaruva (1982), Ancient City of Sigiriya (1982) Sinharaja Forest Reserve (1988) Sacred City of Kandy (1988), Old Town of Galle and its fortifications (1988), Golden Temple of Dambulla (1991)