Sri Lanka at a glance

Official Name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Government Type: Republic
Location: Latitude 5° 55. to 9° 50. north, Longitude 79° 42. to 81° 52., 650km north of the equator
Dimensions: 430km North to South, 225km East to West
Coastline: 1,340km
Area: 65,525km
Currency (code): Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR)
Independence: 4 February 1948
Administrative Capital: Sri Jayewardenepura
Commercial Capital: Colombo
Administrative Divisions: Provinces-9, Provincial secreterial Divisions-331,Provincial Councils-271,Districts-25,Municipal Councils-23,Grama Niladhari divisions- 14,021,Villages-36822
Terrain: Mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior
Population: 20,359,439
Population Growth Rate: 0.75%
Literacy Rate : Female 90.8,Male 92.77
Ethnic Groups: Sinhala (74.9%), Sri Lanka Tamil (11.2%) , Moor (9.3%) , Indian Tamil (4.1%) (2012 census)
Languages: Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%
Note: English (a link language commonly) is used in government and spoken competently by about 10% of the population
Religion: 70.1% of Sri Lankans were Theravada Buddhists, 12.6% were Hindus, 9.7% were Muslims (mainly Sunni), 6.2% Roman Catholic, 1.4 other Christians and 0.05% others.(2012 Census)
Time Zone: Sri Lanka Standard Time is five and a half hours ahead of GMT. (Allowance should be made for summer-time changes in Europe.)
International Dialing: +94
Electricity: 230 . 240 volts, 50 cycles AC. If you travel with a laptop computer bring a stabilizer
Economy: Sri Lanka’s most dynamic sectors are food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, port construction, telecommunications, insurance and banking. In 2006, plantation crops made up only 15% of exports (90% in 1970), while textiles and garments accounted for more than 60%. About 800,000 Sri Lankans work abroad, 90% of them in the Middle East. They send home more than US$1 billion a year.
Agriculture & Products Rice, Sugarcane, Grains, Pulses, Oilseed, Spices, Tea, Rubber, Coconuts, milk, Eggs, Hides, Beef, Fish
Industries: Processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, tobacco and other agricultural commodities, telecommunications, insurance, banking; clothing, textiles, cement, petroleum refining.
Exports: Textiles and apparel; tea and spices; diamonds, emeralds, rubies; coconut products, rubber manufactures, fish
Imports: Main import commodities are textile fabrics, mineral products, petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and transportation equipment: $10.61 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.). Percentage of main commodities from main import partners: India 19.6%, China 10.5%, Singapore 8.8%, Iran 5.7%, Malaysia 5.1%, Hong Kong 4.2%, Japan 4.1% (2006)
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): Purchasing power parity 50.3 LCU per international dollars(2018),Official exchange rate 162.5 LCU per US dollars(2018),Real growth rate: 2.3% (2019) Per capita $3,741, composition by sector-Agriculture-7%,Industry-26.4%,Services-57.4%(2019)
Gross National Product (GNP): Sri Lanka is placed in 76th place in GNP figures of the world’s nations with LKR.9,608 296 Million(2020)