Country Overview- Sri Lanka |

Source: Government of Sri Lanka Country Overview¹

Land & Geography

Geographic Location	An island off the south-eastern cost shores of India, 880 km north of the equator, in the Indian Ocean. It lies between 5° 55′ and 9° 55′ north of the equator and between the eastern longitudes 79° 42′ and 81° 52′.²
Geography	The relief features of the island consist of a mountainous mass somewhat south of the centre, with height exceeding 2,500 metres, surrounded by broad plains. Palm fringed beaches surround the island and the sea temperature rarely falls below 27°C.³
Climate	Low lands – tropical, average 27°C Central Hills – cooler, with temperatures dropping to 14°C. The south-west monsoon brings rain to the western, southern and central regions from May to July., while the north-eastern monsoon occurs in the north and east in December and January.⁴
Area	65,610 sq km⁵
Coastline	1,340 km⁶
Natural Hazard	Floods mostly due to monsoonal rain or effects of low pressure systems and droughts due to failure of monsoonal rain are the most common hazards experienced in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is also prone to hazards such as landslides, lightning strikes, coastal erosion, epidemics and effects of environmental pollution. In 2004, almost two-thirds of the Sri Lankan coast was affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami highlighting the country’s vulnerability to low-frequency but high impact events. ⁷

Government

People & Society

Total Population	20,359,439 ¹³ (As per Population and Housing Census 2012)
Density (per Sq. Km)	325 persons per sq Km¹⁴ (As per Population and Housing Census 2012)
Ethnic Groups	Sinhalese (74.5%); Sri Lankan Tamils (11.1%); Indian Tamils (4.1%); Moors, Malays, Burghers (of Portuguese & Dutch descent) and others (9.8%) ¹⁵ (As per Population and Housing and Housing Census 2012)
Languages	Sinhala, Tamil and English are official languages in Sri Lanka. Sinhala, a language of Indo-Aryan origin is the language of the majority. Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in North-east Sri Lanka. English is widely spoken and understood.¹⁶ (As per Population and Housing Census 2012)
Religions	20,359400 are Religious. Buddhist (70.1%), Hindu(12.58%), Muslim (9.66%), Christian (6.16%), and Other (0.03%).¹⁷ (As per Population and Housing Census 2012)
Literacy	95.7% of population aged 10 and above.¹⁸ (As per Population and Housing Census 2012.)
Life Expectancy	72 (male), 78 (female)¹⁹ (Life Tables for Sri Lanka 2011 –2013 By District and Sex, Department of Census & Statistics Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs)
Sex Ratio	0.94 male(s)/female²⁰ (As per Population and Housing Census 2012)

Economy:

Currency	Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) ²¹
GDP (Nominal)	82.55 US$ Billion – Year 2017 ²²
GDP (PPP)	0.22% ²³ (IMF Data Mapper for the year 2017) 12,860 USD per capita ²⁴ (IMF Data Mapper for the year 2017)
GDP (Growth Rate)	3.4%²⁵ (For the year 2017 as mentioned by Central Bank Sri Lanka in “Sri Lanka: Macroeconomic Developments in Charts Fourth Quarter 2018”)
Per Capita GDP	4104 (US$)²⁶ (For the year 2017 as mentioned by Central Bank Sri Lanka in “Sri Lanka: Macroeconomic Developments in Charts Fourth Quarter 2018”)
Foreign Debt	59.103%²⁷ (% of GNI as stated by World Bank for the year 2017)
Public Debt	82.9%²⁸ (As per Central Bank of Sri Lanka Annual Report 2018 “Part 1 Chap 6 Fiscal Policy and Government Finance”)
Rate of Inflation	Headline Inflation 3.60% Core Inflation 6.30% ²⁹ NCPI April 2019 (As per Central Bank of Sri Lanka Consumer Price Inflation)
Foreign Investment	161.44 USD Million from 2001 until 2019 ³⁰
Foreign Exchange Reserves	8590 (US$ Million)³¹
Foreign Trade (Export & Import)	Total Export – 11,741,036,786 (US$) Total Import – 21,316,199,950 (US$)³² (As per World Bank datamapper 2017)
Total Trade Balance	-9,575,163.16 (US$)³³
Major Items of Export	Textiles and apparel, Tea and spices, Diamonds, Emeralds, Rubies, Coconut products, Rubber manufactures, Fish.³⁴
Major Items of Import	Textile fabrics, Mineral products, Petroleum, Foodstuffs, Machinery and transportation equipment.³⁵
Major Trading Partners	India, China, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Japan, United States, the United Kingdom, Germany ³⁶

Military & Security

Last Updated: 13^th August 2019

¹ https://www.gov.lk/

²ibid

³ ibid

⁴ ibid

⁵ ibid

⁶ ibid

⁷http://www.disastermin.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57%3Ahazard-profile-of-sri-lanka&catid=73%3Areports&Itemid=70&lang=en

⁸https://www.parliament.lk/en/constitution/main

⁹https://www.parliament.lk/en

¹⁰ http://constitutionnet.org/country/constitutional-history-sri-lanka

¹¹ https://www.parliament.lk/en

¹² https://www.parliament.lk/en/constitution/main

¹³ https://www.parliament.lk/en/members-of-parliament/party-comp

¹⁴http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/Pages/Activities/Reports/FinalReport/Population/FinalPopulation.pdf

¹⁵http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/Pages/Activities/Reports/FinalReport/Population/FinalPopulation.pdf

¹⁶http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/Pages/Activities/Reports/FinalReport/Population/Table A3.pdf

¹⁷http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/Pages/Activities/Reports/FinalReport/Population/Table A32.pdf

¹⁸http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/Pages/Activities/Reports/FinalReport/Population/Table A4.pdf

¹⁹http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/Pages/Activities/Reports/FinalReport/Population/FinalPopulation.pdf

²⁰ http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/Pages/Activities/Reports/FinalReport/LifeTables.pdf

²¹ https://www.cbsl.gov.lk/en/rates-and-indicators/exchange-rates

²²https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD?locations=LK

²³ https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPSH@WEO/LKA

²⁴ https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPPC@WEO/THA/LKA

²⁵https://www.cbsl.gov.lk/sites/default/files/cbslweb_documents/statistics/mecpac/Chart_Pack_Q4_2018_e.pdf

²⁶https://www.cbsl.gov.lk/sites/default/files/cbslweb_documents/statistics/mecpac/Macro_chartpack_2017_q4_e.pdf

²⁷ https://data.worldbank.org/topic/external-debt?locations=LK

²⁸https://www.cbsl.gov.lk/sites/default/files/cbslweb_documents/publications/annual_report/2018/en/10_Chapter_06.pdf

²⁹ https://www.cbsl.gov.lk/en/measures-of-consumer-price-inflation

³⁰ https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS?locations=LK

³¹https://www.cbsl.gov.lk/sites/default/files/cbslweb_documents/statistics/wei/WEI_20180907_e.pdf

³²https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/LKA

³³https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/LKA

³⁴http://www.statistics.gov.lk/page.asp?page=Trade

³⁵ ibid

³⁶ ibid

³⁷https://www.sipri.org/search/node?keys=Data%20for%20all%20countries%20from%201988%20to%202018%20in%20constant%202017%20USD

³⁸https://www.sipri.org/search/node?keys=Data%20for%20all%20countries%20from%201988%20to%202018%20in%20constant%202017%20USD

Official Name	Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Capital	Sri Jayewardenepura
Independent since	February 4, 1948
Type of Government	President of the Republic of Sri Lanka is the Head of the State, the Head of the Executive and of the Government, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. ⁸ (Article 30(1) Constitution of Sri Lanka)
Head of State	President His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena⁹
Constitution	The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has been the constitution of the island nation of Sri Lanka since its original promulgation by the National State Assembly on 7 September 1978. As of May 2015 it has been formally amended 19 times. The 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed by the 225-member Sri Lankan Parliament with 215 voting in favor, one against, one abstained and seven were absent, on 28 April 2015. The amendment envisages the dilution of many powers of Executive Presidency, which had been in force since 1978. It is the most revolutionary reform ever applied to the Constitution of Sri Lanka since JR Jayawardhane became the first Executive President of Sri Lanka in 1978. ¹⁰
System of Parliament	The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the supreme legislative body of Sri Lanka. It is modeled after the British Parliament. It consists of two hundred and twenty-five (225) members known as Members of Parliament (MPs). Members are elected by proportional representation for five-year terms, with universal suffrage. The President of Sri Lanka has the power to summon, suspend, prorogue, or terminate a legislative session and to dissolve the Parliament ¹¹
Parliament Party Leaders and Positions
Elections Due	2019 Sri Lankan Presidential Elections “The poll for the election of the President shall be taken not less than one month and not more than two months before the expiration of the term of office of the President in office.” (Section 31(3) of Constitution)

Military Expenditure	Year Wise Expenditure (US$ Million)³⁷
Military Expenditure Percentage of GDP	Percent of GDP (%)³⁸