Religions: Buddhist 69%, Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 8%
Languages: Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil
(national language) 18%
note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken by about
10% of the population
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1995 est.)
total population: 90.2%
male: 93.4%
female: 87.2%
Government —————
Name of country:
conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
conventional short form: Sri Lanka
former: Ceylon
Data code: CE
Type of government: republic
Capital: Colombo
Administrative divisions: 8 provinces; Central, North Central,
North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western
Independence: 4 February 1948 (from UK)