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People
Introduction
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) is an island in the Indian Ocean just off the southeastern coastline of India. Population density is highest in the southwest where Colombo, the country's capital, main port and industrial center, is located. Sri Lanka is ethnically, linguistically and religiously diverse.
Ethnicity
Sinhalese, generally Buddhist, make up almost three-quarters (74 percent) of the citizenry, and are concentrated in the densely populated southwest.
The Tamils, mostly followers of Hinduism, are the principal minority population, comprising about 18 percent of Sri Lanka's inhabitants. The Tamils themselves form two distinct groups. "Ceylon Tamils" are south Indian by ancestry but have been established on the north and east of the island for centuries. They represent about two-thirds of the Tamil population. The other third, called "Indian Tamils," are descendents of tea plantation workers who went to Sri Lanka from India in the 19th century under British colonial jurisdiction.
Muslim Moors are another relatively sizable minority, accounting for about seven percent of the national population. The remaining one percent of the island's inhabitants includes Malays, Burghers (descendants of British and Dutch colonists), and the aboriginal people, the Veddahs.
Religion
While Buddhism, practiced by most Sinhalese, and Hinduism, predominant among Tamils, are the preponderant religions, Sri Lanka also has significant numbers of Sunni Muslims and Christians.
Languages
Sinhala, an Indo-European language, is the native tongue of the Sinhalese, and the official and national language. Tamil, an Indo-Dravidian language, is considered a national language. English is also spoken, mostly by the upper classes in the capital city, but its usage is declining.
Life Expectancy
The population of Sri Lanka has a life expectancy at birth of 74.97 years (72.95 for males, and 77.08 for females) and an infant mortality rate of 19 deaths/1,000 live births.
Literacy
In terms of literacy, 87.2 percent of the female population and 93.4 percent of the male population, age 15 and over, can read and write.
Human Development
About four percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures. Access to water and sanitation is generally good, especially in urban areas; however, access may be more problematic in certain rural areas.
One notable measure used to determine a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which has been compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a ranking of 169 countries, the HDI placed Sri Lanka in the medium human development category, at 91st place.
Note: Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief, www.countrywatch.com . See Bibliography for list of research sources.
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