Formerly known as Ceylon, Sri Lanka is an island nation of 20 million inhabitants, strategically located at the crossroads to the East & West. The city of Colombo remains the country’s commercial capital, whilst the administrative capital was moved to Sri Jayawardenepura, Kotte in 1982.
Boasting a proud history of over 2500 years with its original inhabitants crossing the Palk Strait from India, Ceylon was ruled for centuries by Sinhalese and Tamil kings. Beginning in 1505 Ceylon was colonized for over 400 years, first by the Portuguese then the Dutch and finally by the British. Sri Lanka was granted self rule in 1948 by the British and went on to adopt a democratic style of government based on the Westminster system.
In the late 1970’s Sri Lanka liberalized its economy and to date remains the most open in the South Asian region. It has a well developed capital market and infrastructure especially in the services sector. Its per capita income of US$850 remains one of the highest in the region.
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Location: 880km north of the equator:
Latitude 5° 55' to 9° 50' North
Longitude 70° 42' to 81° 52' East
Dimensions: 430km north to south, 225km east to west
Coastline: 1,330 km approximately
Area: 65,525 sq. km
Population: 19.8 million by 2006
(82% Sin; 9.4% Tam; 7.9% Moors, 0.7% others) by 2001
Life expectancy:
Male 70.1; Female 74.8 by 1991
Literacy rate: 90.7% by 2001
Language: Sinhala, Tamil and English
Religion: Buddhist 76.7%; Hindu 7.8%; Christian 7%; Muslim 8.5% by 2001
Unemployment: 6.5%
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): was 6.4% for the second quarter of 2007
Gross National Product (GNP): Rs 2,883,420 million
Main foreign exchange earners: Garments, Tea, Tourism, Foreign Employment
Time Zone: GMT +6 hours (allowance should be made for summer time changes in Europe)
International dialling code: +94
Electricity: 230 Volts AC |
Source: http://www.statistics.gov.lk
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