About Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia. The island has a length of 445 km and a width of 225 km. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country consists beautiful tropical beaches, world heritages, scenic mountains & water falls, verdant vegetation, ancient monuments and advanced irrigation systems.

General information about Sri Lanka as follows.

• Capital – (Administrative) Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, (Commercial) Colombo

• Population – 21 million

• Land area – 65,610 km2

• Currency – Sri Lankan Rupee

• Administrative boundaries – 09 Provinces, 25 Districts, 332 Divisional secretaries, 14,022 GN divisions

• Dimensions – 445 km North to South, 225 km East to West

• Time Zone – GMT + 05.30

• International Dialing – + 94

Languages, Ethnic groups and Religions in Sri Lanka

• Languages – Sinhala & Tamil (official national languages), English (secondary language)

• Language literacy(approx.) – Sinhala 90%, Tamil 33% , English 50% (can manage)

• Ethnic Groups – 74.9% Sinhalese, 11.2% Sri Lankan Tamils, 9.2% Sri Lankan Moors, 4.2% Indian Tamils, 0.5% Others (incl. Burghers, Malays, Veddas, Chinese, Africans)

• Religions – 70.2% Buddhism, 12.6% Hinduism, 9.7% Islam, 7.4% Christianity/Catholic, 0.1%           Other/None

Agriculture Products and Exports of Sri Lanka

• Agriculture Products – Rice, Sugarcane, Grains, Spices, Tea, Rubber, Coconuts, Areca nut, Betel, Cinnamon, Coffee, Cocoa, Ginger, Pepper, Vanilla, Clove, milk, Eggs, Fish

• Exports – Textiles and apparel, Tea and spices, Gems, coconut products, rubber manufactures, fish

Features of Sri Lanka

• Highest Mountain – Pidurutalagala (2524 m)

• Longest river – Mahaweli (335 km)

• Highest water fall – Bambarakanda (263 m)

• Largest Reservoir – Senanayaka Samudra (770,000 ac.ft)

Climate of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a Tropical country. Mainly there are two climate zones as Dry Zone and Wet Zone. The coldest months according to the mean monthly temperature are December and January while the warmest months are April and August.

• Temperature – Average 25° C to 35° C (but in Central highlands 15°C to 20°C)

• Mean Annual Rain fall – Wet Zone 3000 mm, Dry Zone 1000 mm 

• Monsoons / Climate Seasons

South West monsoon – May to September (During this season rain fall varies from about 100 mm to over 3000 mm. The highest rainfall is received for the mid-elevations of the western slops.

North East Monsoon – December to February (During this season rain fall varies from about 150 mm to over 1500 mm. The highest rainfall is received for the North, Eastern slopes of the hill country and the Eastern slopes of the Knuckles range.)

 • Topography

The central part of the country is mountainous with heights more than 2500 m. Some regions of the central highlands contain many complex topographical features such as ridges, peaks, plateaus, basins, valleys and escarpments. The remainder part of the island is mostly flat except for several small hills.