Geography - note:
strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes
People Sri Lanka
Population:
20,222,240
note: since the outbreak of hostilities between the government and
armed Tamil separatists in the mid-1980s, several hundred thousand
Tamil civilians have fled the island and more than 200,000 Tamils
have sought refuge in the West (July 2006 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 24.1% (male 2,488,689/female 2,379,233)
15-64 years: 68.6% (male 6,727,399/female 7,140,751)
65 years and over: 7.3% (male 687,842/female 798,326) (2006 est.)
Median age:
total: 29.8 years
male: 28.7 years
female: 30.9 years (2006 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.78% (2006 est.)
Birth rate:
15.51 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate:
6.52 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net migration rate:
-1.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female
total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2006 est.)