coordinates: 7 00 N, 81 00 E

Map references: Asia

Area:
total: 65,610 sq km
land: 64,740 sq km
water: 870 sq km

Area-comparative: slightly larger than West Virginia

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 1,340 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March);
southwest monsoon (June to October)

Terrain: mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central
interior

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pidurutalagala 2,524 m

Natural resources: limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems,
phosphates, clay

Land use:
arable land: 14%
permanent crops: 15%
permanent pastures: 7%
forests and woodland: 32%
other: 32% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 5,500 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: occasional cyclones and tornadoes

Environment-current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; wildlife
populations threatened by poaching; coastal degradation from mining
activities and increased pollution; freshwater resources being
polluted by industrial wastes and sewage runoff

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation

Geography-note: strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes

@Sri Lanka:People

Population: 18,933,558 (July 1998 est.)
note: since the outbreak of hostilities between the government and
armed Tamil separatists in the mid-1980s, several hundred thousand
Tamil civilians have fled the island; as of late 1996, 63,068 were
housed in refugee camps in south India, another 30,000-40,000 lived
outside the Indian camps, and more than 200,000 Tamils have sought
political asylum in the West

Age structure:
0-14 years: 28% (male 2,673,194; female 2,556,926)
15-64 years: 66% (male 6,126,759; female 6,385,450)
65 years and over: 6% (male 579,329; female 611,900) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.12% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 18.4 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 5.96 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.25 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 yea