mental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified - Law of the Sea,
Marine Life Conservation
Note:
strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes

@Sri Lanka, People

Population:
18,129,850 (July 1994 est.)
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; as of late 1992, nearly 115,000 were
housed in refugee camps in south India, another 95,000 lived outside
the Indian camps, and more than 200,000 Tamils have sought political
asylum in the West
Population growth rate:
1.18% (1994 est.)
Birth rate:
18.51 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Death rate:
5.77 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Net migration rate:
-0.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
21.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
71.9 years
male:
69.37 years
female:
74.55 years (1994 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.12 children born/woman (1994 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Sri Lankan(s)
adjective:
Sri Lankan
Ethnic divisions:
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% of
the population
Literacy:
age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population:
88%
male:
93%
female:
84%
Labor force:
6.6 million
by occupation:
agriculture 45.9%, mining and manufacturing 13.3%, trade and transport
12.4%, services and other 28.4% (1985 est.)

@Sri Lanka, Government

Names:
conventional long form:
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
conventional short form:
Sri Lanka
former:
Ceylon
Digraph:
CE
Type:
republic
Capital:
Colombo
Administrative divisions:
8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western,
Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western
Independence:
4 February 1948 (from UK)
National holiday:
Independence and National Day, 4 February (1948)
Constitution:
adopted 16 August 1978
Legal system:
a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim,
Sinhalese, and customary law; has not accepted