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 Location:
Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India
Geographic
coordinates:
7 00 N, 81 00 E
Map
references: Asia
Area:
total: 65,610 sq km
land: 64,740 sq km
water: 870 sq km
Land
boundaries: 0 km
Coastline:
1,340 km
Maritime
claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental
margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
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
Elevation
extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pidurutalagala 2,524 m
Natural
resources: limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems,
phosphates, clay
Land
use:
arable land: 14%
permanent crops: 15%
permanent pastures: 7%
forests and woodland: 32%
other: 32% (1993 est.)
Irrigated
land: 5,500 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural
hazards: occasional cyclones and tornadoes
Environment-current
issues: deforestation; soil erosion; wildlife populations
threatened by poaching; coastal degradation from mining
activities and increased pollution; freshwater resources
being polluted by industrial wastes and sewage runoff
Environment-international
agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous
Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
Geography-note:
strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes
People
Population:
19,144,875 (July 1999 est.)
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 late
1996, 63,068 were housed in refugee camps in south India,
another 30,000-40,000 lived outside the Indian camps, and
more than 200,000 Tamils have sought political asylum in
the West
Age
structure:
0-14 years: 27% (male 2,650,135; female 2,535,092)
15-64 years: 67% (male 6,231,987; female 6,500,782)
65 years and over: 6% (male 592,539; female 634,340) (1999
est.)
Population
growth rate: 1.1% (1999 est.)
Birth
rate: 18.16 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death
rate: 6.02 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net
migration rate: -1.13 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999
est.)
Sex
ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.93 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Infant
mortality rate: 16.12 deaths/1,000 live births (1999
est.)
Life
expectancy at birth:
total population: 72.67 years
male: 69.89 years
female: 75.59 years (1999 est.)
Total
fertility rate: 2.1 children born/woman (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Sri Lankan(s)
adjective: Sri Lankan
Ethnic
groups: Sinhalese 74%, Tamil 18%, Moor 7%, Burgher,
Malay, and Vedda 1%
Religions:
Buddhist 69%, Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 8%
Languages:
Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national
language) 18%
note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken
by about 10% of the population
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 90.2%
male: 93.4%
female: 87.2% (1995 est.)
Government
Country
name:
conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of
Sri Lanka
conventional short form: Sri Lanka
former: Ceylon
Data
code: CE
Government
type: republic
Capital:
Colombo
Administrative
divisions: 8 provinces; Central, North Central, North
Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western
Independence:
4 February 1948 (from UK)
National
holiday: Independence and National 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);
head of government: President Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA
(since 12 November 1994);
note-Sirimavo BANDARANAIKE is the prime minister; in Sri
Lanka the president is considered to be both the chief of
state and the head of the government, this is in contrast
to the more common practice of dividing the roles between
the president and the prime minister when both offices exist
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 9 November 1994 (next to be held
NA November 2000)
election results: Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA elected
president; percent of vote-Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA
(People's Alliance) 62%, Srima DISSANAYAKE (United National
Party) 37%, other 1%
Legislative
branch: unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected
by popular vote on the basis of a modified proportional
representation system to serve six-year terms)
elections: last held 16 August 1994 (next to be held by
August 2000)
election results: percent of vote by party-PA 49.0%, UNP
44.0%, SLMC 1.8%, TULF 1.7%, SLPF 1.1%, EPDP 0.3%, UPF 0.3%,
PLOTE 0.1%, other 1.7%; seats by party-PA 105, UNP 94, EPDP
9, SLMC 7, TULF 5, PLOTE 3, SLPF 1, UPF 1
Judicial
branch: Supreme Court, judges are appointed by the Judicial
Service Commission; Court of Appeals
Political
parties: All Ceylon Tamil Congress or ACTC; Ceylon Workers
Congress or
CLDC; Communist Party; Communist Party/Beijing or CP/B;
Democratic People's Liberation Front or DPLF; Democratic
United National (Lalith) Front or DUNLF; Eelam People's
Democratic Party or EPDP; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation
Front or EPRL; Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students
or EROS; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP; Lanka Socialist
Party/Trotskyite or LSSP (Lanka Sama Samaja Party); Liberal
Party or LP; New Socialist Party or NSSP (Nava Sama Samaja
Party); People's Alliance or PA; People's Liberation Organization
of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE; People's United Front or MEP (Mahajana
Eksath Peramuna); Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP; Sri Lanka
Muslim Congress or SLMC; Sri Lanka People's Party or SLMP
(Sri Lanka Mahajana Party); Sri Lanka Progressive Front
or SLPF; Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO; Tamil
United Liberation Front or TULF; United National Party or
UNP; Upcountry People's Front or UPF; Desha Vimukthi Janatha
Party or DVJP; several ethnic Tamil and Muslim parties,
represented in either parliament or provincial councils
International
organization participation: AsDB, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP,
FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA,
IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat,
Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW,
PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Flag
description: yellow with two panels; the smaller hoist-side
panel has two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side)
and orange; the other panel is a large dark red rectangle
with a yellow lion holding a sword, and there is a yellow
bo leaf in each corner; the yellow field appears as a border
that goes around the entire flag and extends between the
two panels
Economy
Economy-overview:
In 1977, Colombo abandoned statist economic policies and
its import substitution trade policy for market-oriented
policies and export-oriented trade. Sri Lanka's most dynamic
industries now are food processing, textiles and apparel,
food and beverages, telecommunications, and insurance and
banking. By 1996 plantation crops made up only 20% of exports
(compared with 93% in 1970), while textiles and garments
accounted for 63%. GDP grew at an annual average rate of
5.5% throughout the 1990s until a drought and a deteriorating
security situation lowered growth to 3.8% in 1996. The economy
rebounded in 1997-98 with growth of 6.4% and 4.7%. For the
next round of reforms, the central bank of Sri Lanka recommends
that Colombo expand market mechanisms in nonplantation agriculture,
dismantle the government's monopoly on wheat imports, and
promote more competition in the financial sector. A continuing
cloud over the economy is the fighting between the Sinhalese
and the minority Tamils, which has cost 50,000 lives in
the past 15 years. The global slowdown will temper growth
in 1999.
GDP:
purchasing power parity-$48.1 billion (1998 est.)
GDP-real
growth rate: 4.7% (1998 est.)
GDP-per
capita: purchasing power parity-$2,500 (1998 est.)
GDP-composition
by sector:
agriculture: 18%
industry: 31%
services: 51% (1997)
Population
below poverty line: 35.3% (1990-91 est.)
Household
income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.8%
highest 10%: 25.2% (1990)
Inflation
rate (consumer prices): 9.3% (1998)
Labor
force: 6.2 million (1997)
Labor
force-by occupation: services 46%, agriculture 37%,
industry 17% (1997 est.)
Unemployment
rate: 11% (1997 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $3 billion
expenditures: $4.2 billion, including capital expenditures
of $1 billion (1997 est.)
Industries:
processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural
commodities; clothing, cement, petroleum refining, textiles,
tobacco
Industrial
production growth rate: 6.5% (1996 est.)
Electricity-production:
5.05 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity-production
by source:
fossil fuel: 4.95%
hydro: 95.05%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1996)
Electricity-consumption:
5.05 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity-exports:
0 kWh (1996)
Electricity-imports:
0 kWh (1996)
Agriculture-products:
rice, sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseed, spices, tea, rubber,
coconuts; milk, eggs, hides, beef
Exports:
$4.5 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Exports-commodities:
textiles and apparel, tea, diamonds and other gems, coconut
products, rubber products, petroleum products (1997)
Exports-partners:
US 36%, UK 11%, Japan 6%, Germany 5%, Belgium-Luxembourg
4% (1997)
Imports:
$5.3 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Imports-commodities:
machinery and equipment, textiles, petroleum, building materials,
sugar (1997)
Imports-partners:
India 10%, Japan 9%, South Korea 8%, Hong Kong 7%, Taiwan
7% (1997)
Debt-external:
$8.8 billion (1998)
Economic
aid-recipient: $559.3 million (1995)
Currency:
1 Sri Lankan rupee (SLRe) = 100 cents
Exchange
rates: Sri Lankan rupees (SLRes) per US$1-67.948 (January
1999), 64.593 (1998), 58.995 (1997), 55.271 (1996), 51.252
(1995), 49.415 (1994)
Fiscal
year: calendar year
Communications
Telephones:
352,681 (1997 est.); 114,888 cellular telephone subscribers
(1997 est.)
Telephone
system: very inadequate domestic service, but expanding
with the entry of two wireless loop operators and privatization
of national telephone company; good international service
domestic: NA
international: submarine cables to Indonesia and Djibouti;
satellite earth stations-2 Intelsat (Indian Ocean)
Radio
broadcast stations: AM 12, FM 5, shortwave 0
Radios:
3.6 million (1996 est.)
Television
broadcast stations: 21 (19 network stations, two low-power
stations) (1997)
Televisions:
1.6 million (1996 est.)
Transportation
Railways:
total: 1,501 km
broad gauge: 1,442 km 1.676-m gauge
narrow gauge: 59 km 0.762-m gauge (1995)
Highways:
total: 99,200 km
paved: 39,680 km
unpaved: 59,520 km (1996 est.)
Waterways:
430 km; navigable by shallow-draft craft
Pipelines:
crude oil and petroleum products 62 km (1987)
Ports
and harbors: Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, Trincomalee
Merchant
marine:
total: 22 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 178,867 GRT/276,363
DWT
ships by type: bulk 1, cargo 14, container 1, oil tanker
1, refrigerated cargo 5 (1998 est.)
Airports:
13 (1998 est.)
Airports-with
paved runways:
total: 12
over 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
914 to 1,523 m: 6 (1998 est.)
Airports-with
unpaved runways:
total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (1998 est.)
Transnational Issues
Disputes-international:
none
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