| GEOGRAPHY |
| Country name: |
conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
conventional short form: Sri Lanka
former: Serendib, Ceylon |
| Capital: |
Colombo; note - Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital |
| Location: |
Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India |
| Geographic
Coordinates: |
7 00 N, 81 00 E |
| Area: |
total: 65,610 sq km
land: 64,740 sq km
water: 870 sq km |
| Area
Comparative: |
slightly larger than West Virginia |
| Land
Boundaries: |
0 km |
| Coastline: |
1,340 km |
| Maritime
Claims: |
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin |
| Climate: |
tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October) |
| Terrain: |
mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior |
| Elavation
Extremes: |
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pidurutalagala 2,524 m |
| Natural
Resources: |
limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates, clay, hydropower |
| GOVERNEMENT |
| Governement
Type: |
republic |
| Administratives
Divisions: |
8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western; note - North Eastern province may have been divided in two - Northern and Eastern |
| Independence |
4 February 1948 (from UK) |
| National
Holiday: |
Independence Day, 4 February (1948) |
| Constitution: |
adopted 16 August 1978 |
| Legal
System; |
a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, Sinhalese, and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Suffrage |
18 years of age; universal |
| Executive
Branch: |
chief of state: President Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA (since 12 November 1994); note - Mahinda RAJAPAKSE (since 6 April 2004) is the prime minister; the president is considered both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA (since 12 November 1994); note - Mahinda RAJAPAKSE is the prime minister (since 6 April 2004); the president is considered both the chief of state and head of government
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 21 December 1999 (next to be held NA December 2005)
election results: Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA reelected president; percent of vote - Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA 51%, Ranil WICKREMASINGHE 42%, other 7% |
| Legislative
Branch: |
unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected by popular vote on the basis of a modified proportional representation system by district to serve six-year terms)
elections: last held 2 April 2004 (next to be held by 2010)
election results: percent of vote by party or electoral alliance - SLFP and JVP 45.6%, UNP 37.83%, TNA 6.84%, JHU 5.97%, SLMC 2.02%, UPF 0.54%, EPDP 0.27%, others 0.93%; seats by party or electoral alliance - SLFP and JVP 105, UNP 82, TNA 22, JHU 9, SLMC 5, UPF 1, EPDP 1 |
| Judicial
Branch: |
Supreme Court; Court of Appeals; judges for both courts are appointed by the president |
| Political
parties and Leaders: |
All Ceylon Tamil Congress or ACTC [KUMARGURUPARAM]; Ceylon Workers Congress or CWC [Arumugam THONDAMAN]; Communist Party or CP [D. GUNASEKERA]; Democratic United National (Lalith) Front or DUNLF [Shrimani ATULATHMUDALI]; Eelam People's Democratic Party or EPDP [Douglas DEVANANDA]; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front or EPRLF [Suresh PREMACHANDRAN]; Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna or JVP [Tilvan SILVA]; National Heritage Party or JHU [Tilak KARUNARATNE]; National Unity Alliance or NUA [Ferial ASHRAFF]; People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [leader NA]; Sihala Urumaya or SU [leader NA]; Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP [Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA]; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress or SLMC [Rauff HAKEEM]; Sri Lanka Progressive Front or SLPF [P. Nelson PERERA]; Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO [SABARATNAM]; Tamil National Alliance or TNA [R.SAMPANTHAN]; Tamil United Liberation Front or TULF [V. ANANDASANGAREE]; United National Party or UNP [Ranil WICKREMASINGHE]; Up-country People's Front or UPF [P. CHANDRASEKARAN]; several ethnic Tamil and Muslim parties, represented in either Parliament or provincial councils |
| PEOPLE |
| Population: |
20,064,776
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 yearend 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 2005 est.) |
| Age structure: |
0-14 years: 24.5% (male 2,508,384/female 2,397,986)
15-64 years: 68.4% (male 6,658,765/female 7,059,468)
65 years and over: 7.2% (male 670,813/female 769,360) (2005 est.) |
| Median age: |
total: 29.44 years
male: 28.38 years
female: 30.51 years (2005 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun: Sri Lankan(s)
adjective: Sri Lankan |
| Ethnic groups: |
Sinhalese 74%, Tamil 18%, Moor 7%, Burgher, Malay, and Vedda 1% |
| Religions: |
Buddhist 70%, Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 7% (1999) |
| Languages: |
Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%
note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population |
| COMUNICATIONS |
| Telephones - main
lines in use: |
881,400 (2002) |
| Telephones - mobile
cellular: |
931,600 (2002) |
| Telephone system: |
general assessment: very inadequate domestic service, particularly in rural areas; likely improvement with privatization of national telephone company and encouragement to private investment; good international service (1999)
domestic: national trunk network consists mostly of digital microwave radio relay; fiber-optic links now in use in Colombo area and two fixed wireless local loops have been installed; competition is strong in mobile cellular systems; telephone density remains low at 2.6 main lines per 100 persons (1999)
international: country code - 94; submarine cables to Indonesia and Djibouti; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) (1999) |
| Radio broadcast
stations: |
AM 26, FM 45, shortwave 1 (1998) |
| Television broadcast
stations: |
21 (1997) |
| Internet country
code: |
.lk |
| Internet hosts: |
1,882 (2003) |
| Internet users: |
200,000 (2002) |
| TRANSPORT |
| Railways: |
total: 1,449 km
broad gauge: 1,449 km 1.676-m gauge (2003) |
| Highways: |
total: 11,650 km
paved: 11,068 km
unpaved: 582 km (2002) |
| Waterways: |
160 km (primarily on rivers in southwest) (2004) |
| Pipelines: |
|
| Ports and harbors: |
Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, Trincomalee |
| Merchant marine: |
total: 23 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 120,924 GRT/173,604 DWT
by type: cargo 18, container 2, passenger 1, petroleum tanker 2
foreign-owned: 10 (Germany 10)
registered in other countries: 1 (2005) |
| Airports: |
14 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with
paved runways: |
total: 13
over 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 6
914 to 1,523 m: 6 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with
unpaved runways: |
total: 1
under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
| Heliports: |
|
