Last update: December 2008
Sri Lanka
Country Profile
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Full Country Name:
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Area:
65,610 sq km - Total.
64,740 sq km - Land.
870 sq km - Water.
Sri Lanka is the world's hundred and twenty second largest country.
Population:
Sri Lanka is the world's fifty second most populous country, with a population of 21 million (2008). The growth rate for Sri Lanka is 0.943%
Capital City:
Colombo (population 2.2m)
Languages:
Sinhalese, English and Tamil are the official languages. English is widely spoken and is the main language used in business.
Sinhala 74% - Offical and National Language
Tamil 18% - National Language
Other 8%
Religions:
Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10%.
Currency:
The Sri Lankan Rupee (SLR), divided into 100 cents
Dialling code from UK:
00 94
Weights & Measures:
Metric
Head of State (President):
His Excellency Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa
Prime Minister/Premier:
The Hon Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Foreign Minister:
Rohitha Bogollagama
Membership of international groupings/organisations:
Commonwealth, The South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), United Nations (UN), Non Aligned Movement (NAM), Group of 77 at the United Nations (G77).
Geography:
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) is about half the size of England and lies close to the southern tip of India and near the equator. From the coast, the land rises to a central massif more than 1500 m above sea level. The climate is hot and humid - monsoon from May to September and the north-east monsoon from November to March: rainfall, particularly in the south-west, is heavy.
Sri Lanka was severely affected by the tsunami on 26 December 2004, which killed some 40,000 people and displaced 400 - 500 thousand people along two thirds of the north-east, south and south-west coastline. Half the fishing fleet was destroyed, and a quarter of hotels in the affected areas sustained serious damage.
Last update: December 2008
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