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• Country Profile
• Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
  • General Information
    • Fact Sheet
    • Introduction
    • Geography
    • Socio-economic Profile
    • Government
    • National Social Welfare System
    • Education Profile
    • Health Profile
    • Information Communication Technology
  • Current Situation of Persons with Disabilities
  • Plan of Action toward Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 2003 - 2012
  • Profile of Disability Related Organizations

1. General Fact Sheet

Figure 1

Government (ii)
Type		Republic
Chief of State Head of Government		President Mahinda Rajapakse(since November 2005)
Capital		Colombo
Administrative Divisions		8 provinces
Demographics
Mid - 2005 Population (thousands) i	19,680	Age Structure (2005) i
Annual Growth Rate i	1.1%	0 - 14 years	24.0%
Urban Population (2005) i	21.0%	15 - 64 years	69.0%
Nationality	Sri Lankan	Over 65 years	7.0%
Ethnic Group (2001) ii		Sex Ratio (2005 est.) ii	0.96 male(s)/female
Sinhalese	73.8%	Unemployment Rate (2004 est.) ii	7.8%
Sri Lanka Moors	7.2%	Population below poverty line (1997 est.) ii	22.0%
Indian Tamil	4.6%	National poverty level (based on Household Ratio) iv	19.2%
Sri Lankan Tamil	3.9%
Other	0.5%
Unspecified	10.0%
Education (iii)
Adult Literacy (M) (2000 - 2004 est.)	92.2%	Enrolment Ratios
Adult Literacy (F) (2000 - 2004 est.)	88.6%	Primary (2002/2003)	112.0%
Public expenditure on Education:total government expenditure	N/A	Secondary (2002/2003)	86.0%
		Tertiary (1990/1991)	5.0%
		Compulsory	Yes
Health
Life Expectancy (M) (2005) i	72 years	HIV/AIDS Prevalence (2001 est.) ii	Less than 0.1%
Life Expectancy (F) (2005) i	77 years	HIV/AIDS Figures (2001 est.) ii	3,500
		Infant Mortality (per 1,000) i	16
Economic (ii)
GDP - per capita (2004 est.)	$ 4,000	Contributions to GDP ( 2004 est.)
GDP Growth (2004 est.)	5.2%	Agriculture	19.1%
Budget (2004 est.)		Industry	26.2%
Revenues	$ 3.34 billion	Services	54.7%
Expenditures	$ 4.686 billion
Disability
Major Legislation		Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, No.28 of 1996
No. of Persons with Disabilities (2001) v	274,771	Disability by Type - Census (2001) v
Disability Prevalence - (2001) v	1.6%	Seeing	19.0%
Disability by Sex (M) (2001) v	57.7%	Hearing	20.2%
Disability by Sex (F) (2001) v	42.3%	Hands	13.2%
National Coordination Committee on Disability	National Council for Persons with Disabilities	Legs	24.9%
		Mentals	3.7%
		Other Physical	19.0%

Source

1. 2005 ESCAP Population Data Sheet, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
2. CIA-The World Factbook 2005 - Sri Lanka (http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ce.html)
3. UNESCO : Institution for Statistics - education sector (www.uis.unesco.org)
4. Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) Department of census and Statistics, Official Poverty Line Bulletin, June 2004
5. People with Disabilities 2001, Census of Population and Housing by District and Sex, Department of Census and Statistics.
6. Preliminary School Census 2003 report, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs, Statistics Branch, Department of Census and Statistics