Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean about 28 kilometers (18 mi.) off the southeastern coast of India with a population of about 20 million. Density is highest in the southwest where Colombo, the country's main port and industrial center, is located. The net population growth is about 0,7%. Sri Lanka is ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse. Map of Colombo with its administrative districts Coordinates: District Colombo Division, Colombo District Mayor Uvaiz Mohammad Imitiyaz (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) Area    - City 37. ...

People

Sinhalese make up 74% of the population and are concentrated in the densely populated southwest. Sri Lanka Tamils, citizens whose ancestors have lived on the island for centuries, total about 12% and live predominantly in the north and east. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Indian Tamils are a distinct ethnic group. The British brought them to Sri Lanka in the 19th century as tea and rubber plantation workers, and they remain concentrated in the "tea country" of south-central Sri Lanka. In accordance with a 1964 agreement with India, Sri Lanka granted citizenship to 230,000 "stateless" Indian Tamils in 1988. Under the pact, India granted citizenship to the remainder, some 200,000 of whom now live in India. Another 75,000 Indian Tamils, who themselves or whose parents once applied for Indian citizenship, now wish to remain in Sri Lanka. The government has stated these Tamils will not be forced to return to India, although they are not technically citizens of Sri Lanka. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...

Other minorities include Muslims (both Moors and Malays), at about 7% of the population; Burghers, who are descendants of European colonists, principally from Portugal, the Netherlands and the UK; and aboriginal Veddahs. A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... Moorish Ambassador to Queen Elizabeth I of England The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula including present day Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal) as well as the Maghreb and western Africa, whose culture is often called Moorish. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendents of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries (mostly Portuguese, Dutch and British) with local Sinhalese ancestry. ... This article is about the continent. ... This article refers to a colony in politics and history. ... The Wanniyala-Aetto, or forest beings (This is the name they call themselves; the commonly known name is Veddahs in Sinhalese) are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. ...

Religion

Main article: Religion in Sri Lanka

Most Sinhalese are Buddhist; most Tamils are Hindu. The Malays and Moors are Muslim, the majority of whom practice Sunni Islam. Sizable minorities of both Sinhalese and Tamils are Christians, most of whom are Roman Catholic. The Burgher population is mostly Roman Catholic or Presbyterian. The Veddahs have Animist and Buddhist practices. The 1978 constitution, while assuring freedom of religion, grants primacy to Buddhism. Sri Lankas population worhips a variety of religions, of which 70% are Theravada Buddhists, 15% are Hindus, and 7. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... Christians believe that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (see Hebrews 8:6). ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Burgher can refer to: a title; in the European Middle Ages, a burgher was any freeman of a burgh or borough; or any inhabitant of a borough, a person who lives in town (in Dutch the word for citizen is burger and the German cognate is Bürger). ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Presbyterianism is part of the Reformed churches family of denominations of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin which traces its institutional roots to the Scottish Reformation, especially as led by John Knox. ... Wanniyala-Aetto Village (Postcard around 1910) The Wanniyala-Aetto, or forest beings (This is the name they call themselves; the commonly known name is Veddahs or Veddas in Sinhalese) are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. ... This article is in need of attention. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ...

Languages

Sinhala, an Indo-European language, is the native tongue of the Sinhalese. Tamils speak Tamil, a Dravidian language. The moors speak an Arab-Tamil dialect, consisting of a large number of Arabic words.The Malays speak Sri Lankan Creole Malay. Many of the Burghers speak Sri Lankan Indo-Portuguese although its use has declined and all speak Sinhala. The Veddahs speak a language closely related to Sinhala. Use of English has declined since independence, but it continues to be spoken by many in the middle and upper middle classes, particularly in Colombo. The government is seeking to reverse the decline in the use of English, mainly for economic but also for political reasons. Both Sinhala and Tamil are official languages. Sinhala (also referred to as Sinhalese; earlier referred to as Singhalese) is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... Tamil (Thamizh) is a classical language of the Dravidian language family. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages[1] that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and eastern and central India, as well as in parts of Afghanistan and Iran, and by overseas Dravidians in other countries... The Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendents of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries (mostly Portuguese, Dutch and British) with local Sinhalese ancestry. ... Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese or Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole is a language spoken in Sri Lanka. ... Wanniyala-Aetto Village (Postcard around 1910) The Wanniyala-Aetto, or forest beings (This is the name they call themselves; the commonly known name is Veddahs or Veddas in Sinhalese) are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. ... a resource to look at current viewpoints Categories: Indo-Aryan languages | Languages of Sri Lanka | Wikipedia cleanup | Language stubs ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Related statistics

Demographics of Sri Lanka, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

Population: 19,238,575
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 mid-1999, approximately 66,000 were housed in 133 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 2000 est.) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Possible meanings: Faro Airport (Portugal) Federation of Astrobiology Organizations Financial Aid Office Food and Agriculture Organization This page expands a three-character combination which might be any or all of: an abbreviation, an acronym, an initialism, a word in English, or a word in another language. ... Languages Tamil Religions Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism Related ethnic groups Dravidian people Brahui people Kannadigas Malayalis Tamils Telugus Tuluvas Gonds The Tamil people are an ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Age structure:
0-14 years: 26% (male 2,605,251; female 2,490,416)
15-64 years: 67% (male 6,285,118; female 6,606,196)
65 years and over: 7% (male 602,470; female 649,124) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.89% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 16.78 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 6.43 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.) This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Net migration rate: -1.47 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.) mtDNA-based chart of large human migrations. ...

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.93 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 16.51 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.) The international levels of infant mortality, depicted as the number of deaths in a thousand births. ...

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.83 years
male: 69.33 years
female: 74.45 years (2000 est.) World map of life expectancy, 2005 Life expectancy is a statistical measure defined as the expected (mean) survival of human beings based upon a number of criteria such as gender and geographic location. ...

Total fertility rate: 1.98 children born/woman (2000 est.) Fertility is a measure of reproduction: the number of children born per couple, person or population. ...

Nationality:
noun: Sri Lankan(s)
adjective: Sri Lankan In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ...

Ethnic group: Sinhalese 74%, Tamil 18%, Moor 7%, Burgher, Malay, and Veddah 1% This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Languages Tamil Religions Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism Related ethnic groups Dravidian people Brahui people Kannadigas Malayalis Tamils Telugus Tuluvas Gonds The Tamil people are an ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. ... Moorish Ambassador to Queen Elizabeth I of England The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula including present day Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal) as well as the Maghreb and western Africa, whose culture is often called Moorish. ... Burgher can refer to: a title; in the European Middle Ages, a burgher was any freeman of a burgh or borough; or any inhabitant of a borough, a person who lives in town (in Dutch the word for citizen is burger and the German cognate is Bürger). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Wanniyala-Aetto, or forest beings (This is the name they call themselves; the commonly known name is Veddahs in Sinhalese) are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. ...

Religions: Buddhism 69%, Hinduism 15%, Christianity 8%, Islam 7% (1999) Buddhism is a dharmic, non-theistic religion, which is also a philosophy and a system of psychology[]. Buddhism is also known as Buddha Dharma or Dhamma, which means the teachings of the Awakened One in Sanskrit and Pali, the languages of ancient Buddhist texts. ... Hinduism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ...

Languages: Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%
note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population a resource to look at current viewpoints Categories: Indo-Aryan languages | Languages of Sri Lanka | Wikipedia cleanup | Language stubs ... An official language is a language that is given a privileged legal status in a state, or other legally-defined territory. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Tamil (Thamizh) is a classical language of the Dravidian language family. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 90.2%
male: 93.4%
female: 87.2% (1995 est.) World literacy rates by country The traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write, or the ability to use language–to read, write, listen, and speak. ...

See also : Sri Lanka

External links

The World Factbook [1] The World Factbook 2007 (government edtion) cover. ...