Download Sri Lanka

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Climate:
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Location:
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tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to
March); southwest monsoon (June to October)
Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of
India
Geography:
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Strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes
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Population:
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Age Structure:
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0-14 years: 24.1% (male 2,596,463/female 2,495,136)
15-64 years: 68% (male 7,019,446/female 7,340,809)
65 years and over: 7.9% (male 783,823/female 893,096) (2008 est.)
Living with HIV:
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21,128,772 (July 2008)
3,500 (2001 est.)
HIV Deaths:
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Fewer than 200 (2003 est.)
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Risk of Disease:
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Nationality:
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degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A
vectorborne disease: dengue fever and malaria
water contact disease: leptospirosis (2008)
Sri Lankan
Language:
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Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national
language) 18%, other 8%
note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken
competently by about 10% of the population
Buddhist 69.1%
 Muslim 7.6%
 Hindu 7.1%
 Christian 6.2%
 Unspecified 10%
(2001)
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Republic
Captial:
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Administrative Provinces:
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Colombo
8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern,
North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva,
Western
Independence:
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February 4 (From UK)
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Legal Systems:
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a highly complex mixture of English common law,
Roman-Dutch, Kandyan, and Jaffna Tamil law; has
not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
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Executive:
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chief of state: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA (since 19
November 2005); note - the president is both the chief of
state and head of government; Ratnasiri
WICKREMANAYAKE (since 21 November 2005) holds
the largely ceremonial title of prime minister
head of government: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA
(since 19 November 2005)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in
consultation with the prime minister
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year
term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 17
November 2005 (next to be held in 2011)
election results: Mahinda RAJAPAKSA elected president;
percent of vote - Mahinda RAJAPAKSA 50.3%, Ranil
WICKREMESINGHE 48.4%, other 1.3%
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Judicial:
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Supreme Court; Court of Appeals; judges for both courts are appointed by
the president.
Political Parties and Leaders:
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All Ceylon Tamil Congress or ACTC [G.PONNAMBALAM]; Ceylon
Workers Congress or CWC [Arumugam THONDAMAN]; Communist Party
or CP [D. GUNASEKERA]; Eelam People's Democratic Party or EPDP
[Douglas DEVANANDA]; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front or
EPRLF [Suresh PREMACHANDRAN]; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP
[Somawansa AMARASINGHE]; Lanka Sama Samaja Party or LSSP [Tissa
VITHARANA]; Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) or
MEP [D. GUNAWARDENE]; National Heritage Party or JHU [Ellawala
METHANANDA]; National Unity Alliance or NUA [Ferial ASHRAFF];
People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [D.
SIDHARTHAN]; Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP [Mahinda
RAJAPAKSA]; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress or SLMC [Rauff HAKEEM];
Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO [Selvam
ADAIKALANATHAN]; Tamil National Alliance or TNA [R. SAMPANTHAN];
Tamil United Liberation Front or TULF [V. ANANDASANGAREE]; United
National Party or UNP [Ranil WICKREMASINGHE]; Up-country People's
Front or UPF [P. CHANDRASEKARAN]
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Legislative:
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unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected by
popular vote on the basis of an open-list, proportional
representation system by electoral district to serve sixyear terms)
elections: last held on 2 April 2004 (next to be held by
2010)
election results: percent of vote by party or electoral
alliance - SLFP and JVP (no longer in formal UPFA
alliance) 45.6%, UNP 37.8%, TNA 6.8%, JHU 6%, SLMC
2%, UPF 0.5%, EPDP 0.3%, other 1%; seats by party UNP 68, SLFP 57, JVP 39, TNA 22, CWC 8, JHU 7,
SLMC 6, SLMC dissidents 4, Communist Party 2, JHU
dissidents 2, LSSP 2, MEP 2, NUA 2, UPF 2, EPDP 1,
UNP dissident 1
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Economy Overview:
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In 1977, Colombo abandoned statist economic policies and its import substitution
trade policy for more market-oriented policies, export-oriented trade, and
encouragement of foreign investment. Recent changes in government, however,
have brought some policy reversals. Currently, the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party
has a more statist economic approach, which seeks to reduce poverty by steering
investment to disadvantaged areas, developing small and medium enterprises,
promoting agriculture, and expanding the already enormous civil service. The
government has halted privatizations. Although suffering a brutal civil war that began
in 1983, Sri Lanka saw GDP growth average 4.5% in the last 10 years with the
exception of a recession in 2001. In late December 2004, a major tsunami took
about 31,000 lives, left more than 6,300 missing and 443,000 displaced, and
destroyed an estimated $1.5 billion worth of property. Government spending and
reconstruction drove growth to more than 7% in 2006 but reduced agriculture output
probably slowed growth to about 6 percent in 2007. Government spending and loose
monetary policy drove inflation to nearly 16% in 2007. Sri Lanka's most dynamic
sectors now are food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, port
construction, telecommunications, and insurance and banking. In 2006, plantation
crops made up only about 15% of exports (compared with more than 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
$1 billion a year. The struggle by the Tamil Tigers of the north and east for an
independent homeland continues to cast a shadow over the economy.
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GDP (purchasing power parity):
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GDP (official exchange rate):
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$4,000 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
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6.8% (2007 est.)
GDP – Per Capita (PPP):
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$30.01 billion (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
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$82.02 billion (2007 est.)
agriculture: 11.7%
industry: 29.9%
services: 58.4% (2007 est.)
Unemployment Rate:
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6% (est. 2007est.)
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http://www.museum.gov.lk/
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/t
he-world-factbook/geos/ce.html#Geo