Country Profile: Sri Lanka

Last reviewed: 30 March 2007

Country information

Area: 65,610 sq km
Population: 19.5 million (2004)
Capital City: Colombo (population 2.2m)
People: 73.94% Sinhalese, 12.7% Tamil, 7.1% Muslim, 5.5% Hill Tamil, and 1.5% other
Languages: Sinhalese, Tamil, English
Religion(s): Buddhist (69.3%); Hindu (15.5%); Muslim (7.5%); Christianity (6.9%), other (0.8%)
Currency: Rupee, divided into 100 cents
Major political parties: Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) (President’s party and largest government party), United National Party (UNP) (main opposition party), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) (left wing, Sinhala nationalist), Tamil National Alliance (a coalition of Tamil parties), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) (Sinhala nationalist Buddhist party led by monks), Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) (member of the TNA), Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) (a Tamil party opposed to the LTTE), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) (represents Hill Tamils)
Government: Unicameral Parliament with Executive Presidency
Head of State (President): His Excellency Mr Mahinda Rajapakse
Prime Minister/Premier: The Hon Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Foreign Minister: The Hon. Rohitha Bogollagama MP
Membership of international groupings/organisations: Commonwealth, The South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), United Nations (UN), Non Aligned Movement (NAM), Group of 77 at the United Nations (G77).