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| Official name: | Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka | |
| Government type: | Republic | |
| Location: | Latitude 5° 55. to 9° 50. north, longitude 79° 42. to 81° 52., 650km north of the equator |
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| Dimensions: | 430km north to south, 225km east to west | |
| Coastline: | 1,340km | |
| Currency : | Sri Lankan rupee (LKR) | |
| Independence: | 4 February 1948 | |
| Administrative capital: | Sri Jayewardenepura | |
| Commercial capital: | Colombo | |
| Administrative divisions: | 9 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western, Eastern Province. | |
| Climate: | Typically tropical, with a northeast monsoon (December to March) bringing unsettled weather to the north and east, and a southwest monsoon (June to October) bringing bad weather to the south and west | |
| Terrain: | Mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior | |
| Highest mountain: | Pidurutalagala, 2,524m | |
| Highest waterfall: | Bambarakanda, 263m | |
| National Flower: | The Blue Water Lily (Nymphaea stellata) | |
| National parks and nature reserves area: | 8,000sq.km | |
| Population: | 21,128,773 | |
| Population growth rate: | 1.3% | |
| Population Density: | 309 people per sq Km | |
| Life Expectancy at Birth: | 74 Female, 64 Male | |
| Literacy rate : | Female 87.9 Male 92.5 | |
| Ethnic groups: | Sinhalese 73.8%, Sri Lankan Moors 7.2%, Indian Tamil 4.6%, Sri Lankan Tamil 3.9%, other 0.5%, unspecified 10% | |
| Languages: | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% Note: English (a link language commonly) is used in government and spoken competently by about 10% of the population |
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| Religion: | Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% | |
| Time zone: | Sri Lanka Standard Time is five and a half hours ahead of GMT. (Allowance should be made for summer-time changes in Europe.) | |
| International dialing: | +94 or 0094 | |
| Electricity: | 230 . 240 volts, 50 cycles AC. If you travel with a laptop computer bring a stabilizer | |
| Economy: | Sri Lanka's most dynamic sectors are food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, port construction, telecommunications, and insurance and banking. In 2006, plantation crops made up only 15% of exports (90% in 1970), while textiles and garments accounted for more than 60%. About 800,000 Sri Lankans work abroad, 90% of them in the Middle East. They send home more than US$1 billion a year. | |
