People
Sri Lanka
Population:
21,128,772 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 2008 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 24.1% (male 2,596,463/female 2,495,136) 15-64 years: 68% (male 7,019,446/female 7,340,809) 65 years and over: 7.9% (male 783,823/female 893,096) (2008 est.)
Median age:
total: 30.4 years male: 29.5 years female: 31.4 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.943% (2008 est.)
Birth rate: