Environment - current issues:
deforestation; soil erosion; wildlife populations threatened by
poaching and urbanization; coastal degradation from mining
activities and increased pollution; freshwater resources being
polluted by industrial wastes and sewage runoff; waste disposal; air
pollution in Colombo
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
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.)