Sri Lanka Country Profile

General Information:

Capital:  Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte

Sri Lanka is located in the Indian Ocean, it has 1,340 kilometres of coastline. The current population of Sri Lanka is 21,021,947 and is the 58^th most populated country. The most populated city in Sri Lanka is also the capital city as well as an ancient port. This city is Columbo, with a population of 648,034. 

Sri Lanka is a country of multiple ethnicities, but the two most prominent are the Sinhalese and the Sri Lankan Tamils. The Sinhalese make up around 75% of the total population and are concentrated in the central and southwestern parts of the country. The Tamils make up around 11.9% of the total population and are thus the largest minority present in the country. 

The major languages in Sri Lanka are Sinhala, Tamil, English and the major religions are Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity.

Sri Lanka has been scarred by a long and bitter civil war which arose out of ethnic tensions between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil minority in the north and east. After more than 25 years of violence the civil war ended in May 2009, when government forces seized the last area controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels.

The president of Sri Lanka is Maithripala Sirisena and the prime minister is Ranil Wickremesinghe.

In October 2018, president Sirisena sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and attempted to replace with him with the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Parliament voted that they had no-confidence in Mahinda Rajapaksa, and he was unable to establish his authority as head of government.  In November the president ordered the dissolution of Parliament and called a snap election. His actions were considered unconstitutional.

In December, the Court of Appeal ruled that Mahinda Rajapaksa could not take office, and the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the president’s dissolution of Parliament. This decision allowed Ranil Wickremesinghe to become prime minister again.

Sri Lanka ranks 89th on Corruption perceptions index 2018 and 46th on the Fragile State Index 2019. The president has made efforts to fight corruption, including arrests and indictments but this has led to a few convictions.

Corruption remains a problem in the judiciary, public procurement, and customs sector.  In May 2018, parliament approved a new law that created special courts to deal with corruption. These changes were meant to accelerate cases that have been delayed for years.

In September, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a former defence minister and brother of the former president, were indicted in court for allegedly misusing public funds to build a memorial for his parents.