1987 Edition

Climate

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

Coastline

1,340 km

Comparative area

about one-half the size of North Carolina

Contiguous zone

24 nm

Continental shelf

edge of continental margin or 200 nm

Environment

occasional cyclones, tornados; deforestation; soil erosion

Extended economic zone

200 nm

Land use

16% arable land; 17% permanent crops; 7% meadows and pastures; 87% forest and woodland; 23% other; includes 8% irrigated

Special notes

only 29 km from India; near major Indian Ocean sea lanes

Terrain

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

Territorial sea

12 nm

Total area

da tng 100km - Paik Bay Manna’ Gut of Mannar Hambantota

65,610 km?; land area: 64,740 km?

Ethnic divisions

74% Sinhalese; 18% Tamil; 7% Moor; 1% Burgher, Malay, and Veddha

Infant mortality rate

37/1,000 (1983)

Labor force

6.6 million (1985 est.); 45.9% agriculture, 13.3% mining and manufacturing, 12.4% trade and transport, 26.3% services and other; extensive underemployment; 19% unemployment (1985 est.)

Language

Sinhala (official); Sinhala and Tamil listed as national languages; Sinhala spoken by about 74% of population, Tamil spoken by about 18%; English commonly used in government and spoken by about 10% of the population

Life expectancy

68

Literacy

87%

Nationality

noun—Sri Lankan(s); adjective—Sri Lankan

Organized labor

about 33% of labor force, over 50% of which employed on tea, rubber, and coconut estates

Population

16,406,576 (July 1987), average annual growth rate 1.37%

Religion

69% Buddhist, 15% Hindu, 8% Christian, 8% Muslim

Administrative divisions

9 provinces, 24 administrative districts

Branches

the 1978 constitution established a strong presidential form of government under J. R. Jayewardene, who had been Prime Minister since his party’s election victory in July 1977; Jayewardene was elected to a second term in October 1982 and will serve until 1989 regardless of whether Parliament is dissolved; the current Parliament was extended until August 1989 by a national referendum held in December 1982

Capital

Colombo

Elections

national elections ordinarily held every six years; must be held more frequently if government loses confidence vote; the constitution was amended in August 1982 to permit the President to call an early presidential election Political parties and leaders: Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike; Sri Lanka Mahajana Party, Vijaya Kumaratunga; Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP; Trotskyite), C. R. de Silva; Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), V. Nanayakkara; Tamil United Liberation Front, A. Amirthalingam; United National Party (UNP), J. R. Jayewardene; Communist Party/Moscow, K. P. Silva; Communist Party/Beijing, N. Shanmugathasan; Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People’s United Front), M. B. Ratnayaka; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; People’s Liberation Front), Rohana Wijeweera; All-Ceylon Tamil Congress, Kumar Ponnambalam

Government leader

Junius Richard JAYEWARDENE, President (since 1978)

Legal system

a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, and customary law; new constitution 7 September 1978 reinstituted a strong, independent judiciary; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Member of

ADB, ANRPC, Colombo Plan, Commonwealth, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, NAM, SAARC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

National holiday

Independence Day, 22 May

Official name

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Other political or pressure groups

Tamil separatist groups, Buddhist clergy, Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups; far-left violent revolutionary groups; labor unions

Suffrage

universal over age 18

Type

republic

Voting strength

(October 1982 presidential election) UNP 52.91%, SLFP 39.07%, JVP 4.18%, All Ceylon Tamil Congress 2.67%, LSSP .9%, NSSP .27%

Agriculture

agriculture accounts for about 26% of GDP; main crops—paddy, coconuts, tea, rubber

Budget

(1985) revenues, $1.4 billion; expenditures, $2.0 billion

Electric power

982,000 kW capacity; 8,200 million kWh produced, 190 kWh per capita (1986)

Exports

$].4 billion (f.0.b., 1985); tea, textiles and garments, petroleum products, coconut, rubber, agricultural products, gems and jewelry, marine products

Fiscal year

calendar year

Fishing

catch 140,000 metric tons (1985 est.)

GDP

$6.3 billion, $390 per capita (1985); real growth rate 5% (1984); 50% services, 26% agriculture, forestry, and fishing, 15% manufacturing, 7% construction, 2% mining and quarrying (1985)

Imports

$2.0 billion (c.i.f., 1985); petroleum, machinery and equipment, textiles and textile materials, wheat, transport equipment, electrical machinery, sugar, rice

Major industries

processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; consumer goods manufacture; garment industry

Major trade partners

(1985) exports—US (22%), UAR, lraqg, UK, FRG, Singapore, Japan; imports—Japan, Saudi Arabia, US, India, Singapore, FRG, UK, Iran

Monetary conversion rate

28.5 rupees=US$1 (October 1986)

Natural resources

limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates

Airfields

14 total, 12 usable; 11 with permanent-surface runways; | with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 7 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Highways

66,176 km total (1985); 24,300 km paved (mostly bituminous treated), 28,916 km crushed stone or gravel, 12,960 km improved earth or unimproved earth; in addition, several thousand km of tracks, mostly unmotorable

Inland waterways

430 km; navigable by shallow-draft craft

Pipelines

crude, 14 km; refined products, 55 km

Ports

3 major, 9 minor Civil air; 8 major transport (including 1 leased)

Railroads

1,868 km total (1985); all 1.868meter broad gauge; 102 km double track; no electrification; government owned

Telecommunications

good international service; 106,500 (est.) telephones (0.6 per 100 popl.); 12 AM, 3 FM, and | TV stations; submarine cables extend to Indonesia, Djibouti, India; 1 satellite ground station

Branches

Army, Air Force, Navy, Police Force, Special Police Task Force, National Auxiliary Force

Military budget

for fiscal year ending 31 December 1986, $370 million, 18% of central government estimated budget

Military manpower

males 15-49, 4,262,000; 3,344,000 fit for military service; 174,000 reach military age (18) annually