vectorborne disease: dengue fever and malaria
water contact disease: leptospirosis (2008)

Nationality:

noun: Sri Lankan(s)
adjective: Sri Lankan

Ethnic groups:

Sinhalese 73.8%, Sri Lankan Moors 7.2%, Indian Tamil 4.6%, Sri
Lankan Tamil 3.9%, other 0.5%, unspecified 10% (2001 census
provisional data)

Religions:

Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified
10% (2001 census provisional data)

Languages:

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

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 90.7%
male: 92.3%
female: 89.1% (2001 census)

Education expenditures:

NA

Government
Sri Lanka

Country name:

conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
conventional short form: Sri Lanka
local long form: Shri Lamka Prajatantrika Samajaya di
Janarajaya/Ilankai Jananayaka Choshalichak Kutiyarachu
local short form: Shri Lamka/Ilankai
former: Serendib, Ceylon

Government type:

republic

Capital:

name: Colombo
geographic coordinates: 6 56 N, 79 51 E
time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during
Standard Time)
note: Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative capital)

Administrative divisions:

8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western,
Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western
note: in October 2006, a Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruling voided a
presidential directive merging the North and Eastern Provinces; many
have defended the merger as a prerequisite for a negotiated
settlement to the ethnic conflict; a parliamentary decision on the
issue is pending

Independence:

4 February 1948 (from UK)

National holiday:

Independence Day, 4 February (1948)

Constitution:

adopted 16 August 1978, certified 31 August 1978

Legal system:

a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch,
Kandyan, and Jaffna Tamil law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction

Suffrage:

18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:

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