Sri Lanka

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය (Sinhala) இலங்கை சனநாயக சோசலிசக் குடியரசு (Tamil) Sinhala: Śrī Laṅkā Prajātāntrika Samājavādī Janarajaya Tamil: Ilaṅkai Jaṉanāyaka Sōsalisak Kuṭiyarasu
Flag Emblem
Anthem: "Sri Lanka Matha" (English: "Mother Sri Lanka")
Capital	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative)[1] Colombo (executive and judicial)[2] 6°56′N 79°52′E / 6.933°N 79.867°E / 6.933; 79.867
Largest city	Colombo
Official languages	Sinhala Tamil[3]
Recognised languages	English
Ethnic groups (2012[4])	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,
Religion (2012)	70.2% Buddhism (official)[5] 12.6% Hinduism 9.7% Islam 7.4% Christianity 0.1% Other/None
Demonym(s)	Sri Lankan
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
• President	Ranil Wickremesinghe
• Prime Minister	Dinesh Gunawardena
• Speaker of the Parliament	Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena[6]
• Chief Justice	Jayantha Jayasuriya
Legislature	Parliament
Independence  from the United Kingdom
• Dominion	4 February 1948
• Republic	22 May 1972
• Current constitution	7 September 1978
Area
• Total	65,610 km2 (25,330 sq mi) (120th)
• Water (%)	4.4
Population
• 2019 estimate	21,803,000[7] (58th)
• 2012 census	20,277,597[8]
• Density	327/km2 (846.9/sq mi) (43rd)
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
• Total	$321.856 billion[9] (58th)
• Per capita	$14,509[9] (91st)
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$92.111 billion[9] (65th)
• Per capita	$4,152[9] (109th)
Gini (2016)	39.8[10] medium
HDI (2019)	0.782[11] high · 72nd
Currency	Sri Lankan rupee (Rs) (LKR)
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (SLST)
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy yyyy-mm-dd
Driving side	left
Calling code	+94
ISO 3166 code	LK
Internet TLD	.lk .ලංකා .இலங்கை
Website www.gov.lk

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (ශ්‍රී ලංකා in Sinhala, இலங்கை in Tamil) is a tropical island nation off the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent. The capital of the country is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte while the largest city is Colombo. Sri Lanka shares a sea boundary with the Maldives in the south-west part and India in the north-west.

It was known as Ceylon before 1972, and Serendib and Sinhale, among other names, before that. It was South Asia's oldest democracy.

1. ↑ "Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
2. ↑ "Colombo". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
3. ↑ "Department of Official Languages". Archived from the original on 2016-09-06. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
4. ↑ "South Asia: Sri Lanka". CIA. 8 March 2022.
5. ↑ "Ashik v Bandula And Others (Noise Pollution Case)" (PDF). www.lawnet.gov.lk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
6. ↑ "Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena elected as the New Speaker". Parliament of Sri Lanka. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
7. ↑ "Mid-year population projection" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
8. ↑ "Census of Population and Housing 2011 Enumeration Stage February–March 2012" (PDF). Department of Census and Statistics – Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3} "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
10. ↑ "Gini Index". World Bank.
11. ↑ Human Development Report 2020 The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 15 December 2020. pp. 343–346. ISBN 978-92-1-126442-5. Retrieved 16 December 2020.