Sri Lanka People 1997

Population 18,721,178 (July 1997 est.)
note: since the outbreak of hostilities between the government and armed Tamilseparatists in the mid-1980s, several hundred thousand Tamil civilians havefled the island; as of late 1996, 63,068 were housed in refugee camps in southIndia, another 30,000-40,000 lived outside the Indian camps, and more than200,000 Tamils have sought political asylum in the West

Age structure
0-14 years: 28% (male 2,698,852; female 2,581,476)
15-64 years : 66% (male 6,019,140; female 6,266,311)
65 years and over: 6% (male 565,671; female 589,728) (July 1997 est.)

Population growth rate 1.14% (1997 est.)

Birth rate 18.64 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate 5.9 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Net migration rate -1.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Sex ratio
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years : 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.96 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate 16.5 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
total population: 72.42 years
male: 69.75 years
female: 75.23 years (1997 est.)

Total fertility rate 2.15 children born/woman (1997 est.)

Nationality
noun: Sri Lankan(s)
adjective: Sri Lankan

Ethnic groups Sinhalese 74%, Tamil 18%, Moor 7%, Burgher, Malay, and Vedda 1%

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% ofthe population

Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 90.2%
male: 93.4%
female: 87.2% (1995 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Sri Lanka on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sri Lanka People 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sri Lanka People 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.