Sri Lanka

In brief

Sri Lanka is a country in South Asia. Its capital is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. Colombo is the commercial capital. With 21.8 million inhabitants in 2025, it ranks 62nd in the world by population, out of the 195 countries recognised by the UN. Its area is 65,610 km². It shares land borders with India.

GDP per capita stands at $5,002 (2025), 120th in the world. Life expectancy at birth is 77.7 years (2024). 20% of the population lives in cities.

History of Sri Lanka

The kingdom of Anuradhapura adopted Buddhism in the 3rd century BC; in the 5th century King Kashyapa built the Sigiriya fortress on top of a rock. The island, known as Ceylon, passed to the Portuguese, the Dutch and then the British, who took the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815. Independent on 4 February 1948, it became Sri Lanka in 1972. In 1960 Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world’s first woman to lead a government. A civil war pitted the state against the Tamil Tigers from 1983 to 2009. In 2022 a severe economic crisis brought down the president.

Geography of Sri Lanka

A teardrop-shaped island south of India, Sri Lanka is separated from the mainland by the Palk Strait. The central highlands, covered in tea plantations, peak at Pidurutalagala (2,524 m) and are ringed by tropical coastal plains.

Map of Sri Lanka

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Flag of Sri Lanka

The flag of Sri Lanka is red, green, yellow and orange. Its official proportions are 1:2 (height to width).

• Yellow43%
• Red34%
• Orange12%
• Green11%

Share of the flag’s surface taken by each colour.

What the flag stands for

The “Lion Flag”: a gold lion holding a sword on maroon, for the Sinhalese, with four sacred fig leaves in the corners, Buddhist symbols. Two green and saffron bands represent the Muslim and Tamil minorities.

Sources: Wikipedia, articles “Sri Lanka” and “Flag of Sri Lanka”.

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Fact file

Economy and society