Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

The main languages spoken in Sri Lanka are:
Sinhala - the most widely spoken official language, ~87% of the population.
Tamil - also official, ~28.5%, spoken by the Sri Lankan Tamil and Indian Tamil communities.
English is also widely spoken, ~23.8%.
Sinhala and Tamil are both official languages of Sri Lanka.

Geography

Location: Southern Asia, an island in the Indian Ocean, south of India

Map references: Asia

Area:
total: 65,610 sq km

Geography - note: strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes; Adam's Bridge, a chain of limestone shoals, likely once connected India and Sri Lanka; ancient records suggest a foot passage was possible until the 15th century, when the land bridge broke up in a cyclone

People

Population: 21.8-22.05 million (2025-2026 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population 77.5 years (World Bank, 2025)

Infant mortality rate: 5.3-6.8 deaths/1,000 live births

Nationality:
noun/adjective: Sri Lankan(s)

Ethnic groups: Sinhalese 74.9%, Sri Lankan Tamil 11.2%, Sri Lankan Moors 9.2%, Indian Tamil 4.2%, other 0.5% (2012 est.)

Religions: predominantly Buddhist, with Hindu, Islamic, and Christian minorities

Languages: Sinhala (official) 87%, Tamil (official) 28.5%, English 23.8% (2012 est.)

Literacy: total population 92.7% (2023 est.)

Population distribution: primarily concentrated within a broad wet zone in the southwest, urban centers along the eastern coast, and on the Jaffna Peninsula in the north

Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
conventional short form: Sri Lanka
former: Ceylon

Data code: CE

Government type: presidential republic

National capital: Colombo (executive and judicial); Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative)

Executive branch: President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (leader of the National People's Power coalition)

Economy

Economy - overview: upper-middle-income South Asian economy; recovering steadily from the severe 2022 economic crisis; strong textiles/apparel, tourism, IT services, and tea/rubber/coconut agricultural export sectors; still faces significant public debt and poverty challenges

GDP (purchasing power parity): $342.6 billion (2024 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 5.0% (FY2025)

GDP - per capita: $15,632 PPP (2024 est.)

Inflation rate: 1.60% (February 2026)

Unemployment rate: 4.0% (2025 est.)

Population below poverty line: 12% on less than $4.20/day (2019); 53% on less than $8.30/day (2019)

Industries: textiles and clothing, tourism, telecommunications, IT services, banking, shipping, petroleum refining, tea/rubber/coconut/tobacco processing

Currency: Sri Lankan rupee (LKR)