1991 Edition
CIA World Factbook 1991 (Project Gutenberg)
Geography
Climate
tropical; monsoonal; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October)
Coastline
1,340 km
Comparative area
slightly larger than West Virginia
Environment
occasional cyclones, tornados; deforestation; soil erosion
Land boundaries
none
Land use
arable land 16%; permanent crops 17%; meadows and pastures 7%; forest and woodland 37%; other 23%; includes irrigated 8%
Maritime claims
Contiguous zone: 24 nm; Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm; Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm; Territorial sea: 12 nm
Natural resources
limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates, clay
Note
only 29 km from India across the Palk Strait; near major Indian Ocean sea lanes
Terrain
mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior
Total area
65,610 km2; land area: 64,740 km2
People and Society
Birth rate
20 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate
6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Ethnic divisions
Sinhalese 74%; Tamil 18%; Moor 7%; Burgher, Malay, and Veddha 1%
Infant mortality rate
21 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Labor force
6,600,000; agriculture 45.9%, mining and manufacturing 13.3%, trade and transport 12.4%, services and other 28.4% (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 at birth
69 years male, 74 years female (1991)
Literacy
86% (male 91%, female 81%) age 15 and over can read and write (1981)
Nationality
noun--Sri Lankan(s); adjective--Sri Lankan
Net migration rate
- 2 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Organized labor
about 33% of labor force, over 50% of which are employed on tea, rubber, and coconut estates
Population
17,423,736 (July 1991), growth rate 1.2% (1991)
Religion
Buddhist 69%, Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 8%
Total fertility rate
2.3 children born/woman (1991)
Government
Administrative divisions
24 districts; Amparai, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Batticaloa, Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalla, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Matara, Moneragala, Mullaittivu, Nuwara Eliya, Polonnaruwa, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Trincomalee, Vavuniya; note--the administrative structure may now include 8 provinces (Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, and Western) and 25 districts (with Kilinochchi added to the existing districts)
Capital
Colombo
Constitution
31 August 1978
Diplomatic representation
Ambassador W. Susanta De ALWIS; Chancery at 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 483-4025 through 4028; there is a Sri Lankan Consulate in New York; US--Ambassador Marion V. CREEKMORE, Jr.; Embassy at 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 (mailing address is P. O. Box 106, Colombo); telephone [94] (1) 448007
Elections
President--last held 19 December 1988 (next to be held December 1994); results--Ranasinghe PREMADASA (UNP) 50%, Sirimavo BANDARANAIKE (SLFP) 45%, other 5%; Parliament--last held 15 February 1989 (next to be held by February 1995); results--UNP 51%, SLFP 32%, SLMC 4%, TULF 3%, USA 3%, EROS 3%, MEP 1%, other 3%; seats--(225 total) UNP 125, SLFP 67, other 33
Executive branch
president, prime minister, Cabinet
Flag
yellow with two panels; the smaller hoist-side panel has two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and orange; the other panel is a large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion holding a sword and there is a yellow bo leaf in each corner; the yellow field appears as a border that goes around the entire flag and extends between the two panels
Independence
4 February 1948 (from UK; formerly Ceylon)
Judicial branch
Supreme Court
Leaders
Chief of State--President Ranasinghe PREMADASA (since 2 January 1989); Head of Government--Prime Minister Dingiri Banda WIJETUNGE (since 6 March 1989)
Legal system
a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Legislative branch
unicameral Parliament
Long-form name
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Member of
AsDB, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G-24, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
National holiday
Independence and National Day, 4 February (1948)
Other political or pressure groups
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other smaller Tamil separatist groups; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People's Liberation Front); Buddhist clergy; Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups; labor unions
Political parties and leaders
United National Party (UNP), Ranasinghe PREMADASA; Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Sirimavo BANDARANAIKE; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), M. H. M. ASHRAFF; All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Kumar PONNAMBALAM; People's United Front (MEP, or Mahajana Eksath Peramuna), Dinesh GUNAWARDENE; Eelam Democratic Front (EDF), Edward Sebastian PILLAI; Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), leader (vacant); Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS), Velupillai BALAKUMARAN; New Socialist Party (NSSP, or Nava Sama Samaja Party), Vasudeva NANAYAKKARA; Lanka Socialist Party/Trotskyite (LSSP, or Lanka Sama Samaja Party), Colin R. de SILVA; Sri Lanka People's Party (SLMP, or Sri Lanka Mahajana Party), Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARANATUNGA; Communist Party/Moscow (CP/M), K. P. SILVA; Communist Party/Beijing (CP/B), N. SHANMUGATHASAN; note--the United Socialist Alliance (USA) includes the NSSP, LSSP, SLMP, CP/M, and CP/B
Suffrage
universal at age 18
Type
republic
Economy
Agriculture
accounts for 26% of GDP and nearly half of labor force; most important staple crop is paddy rice; other field crops--sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseeds, roots, spices; cash crops--tea, rubber, coconuts; animal products--milk, eggs, hides, meat; not self-sufficient in rice production
Budget
revenues $1.7 billion; expenditures $2.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $0.5 billion (1990)
Currency
Sri Lankan rupee (plural--rupees); 1 Sri Lankan rupee (SLRe) = 100 cents
Economic aid
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.0 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1980-88), $4.9 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $169 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $369 million
Electricity
1,300,000 kW capacity; 4,200 million kWh produced, 240 kWh per capita (1990)
Exchange rates
Sri Lankan rupees (SLRs) per US$1--40.272 (January 1991), 40.063 (1990), 36.047 (1989), 31.807 (1988), 29.445 (1987), 28.017 (1986), 27.163 (1985)
Exports
$1.6 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities--tea, textiles and garments, petroleum products, coconut, rubber, agricultural products, gems and jewelry, marine products; partners--US 26%, FRG, Japan, UK, Belgium, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China
External debt
$5.6 billion (1989)
Fiscal year
calendar year
GDP
$6.6 billion, per capita $380; real growth rate 4.5% (1990 est.)
Imports
$2.2 billion (c.i.f., 1989); commodities--food and beverages, textiles and textile materials, petroleum, machinery and equipment; partners--Japan, Saudi Arabia, US 5.6%, India, Singapore, FRG, UK, Iran
Industrial production
growth rate 6% (1989 est.); accounts for 18% of GDP
Industries
processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco, clothing
Inflation rate (consumer prices)
23% (1990)
Overview
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing dominate the economy, employing about 45% of the labor force and accounting for 26% of GDP. The plantation crops of tea, rubber, and coconuts provide about 35% of export earnings. The economy has been plagued by high rates of unemployment since the late 1970s. Economic growth, which has been depressed by ethnic unrest, accelerated in 1990 as domestic conditions began to improve.
Unemployment rate
20% (1990 est.)
Communications
Airports
14 total, 13 usable; 12 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 7 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Civil air
8 major transport (including 1 leased)
Highways
75,263 km total (1988); 27,637 km paved (mostly bituminous treated), 32,887 km crushed stone or gravel, 14,739 km improved earth or unimproved earth; several thousand km of mostly unmotorable tracks (1988 est.)
Inland waterways
430 km; navigable by shallow-draft craft
Merchant marine
34 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 364,466 GRT/551,686 DWT; includes 18 cargo, 6 refrigerated cargo, 5 container, 2 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 3 bulk
Pipelines
crude and refined products, 62 km (1987)
Ports
Colombo, Trincomalee
Railroads
1,948 km total (1989); all 1.868-meter broad gauge; 102 km double track; no electrification; government owned
Telecommunications
good international service; 114,000 telephones (1982); stations--12 AM, 5 FM, 5 TV; submarine cables extend to Indonesia and Djibouti; 2 Indian Ocean INTELSAT earth stations
Military and Security
Branches
Army, Navy, Air Force, Police Force
Defense expenditures
$300 million, 5% of GDP (1991) _%_
Manpower availability
males 15-49, 4,636,767; 3,625,289 fit for military service; 178,010 reach military age (18) annually