SRI LANKA GEOGRAPHY Total area: 65,610 km2; land area: 64,740 km2 Comparative area: slightly larger than West Virginia Land boundaries: none Coastline: 1,340 km Maritime claims: Contiguous zone: 24 nm; Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm; Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm; Territorial sea: 12 nm Climate: tropical; monsoonal; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October) Terrain: mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior Natural resources: limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates, clay Land use: arable land 16%; permanent crops 17%; meadows and pastures 7%; forest and woodland 37%; other 23%; includes irrigated 8% Environment: occasional cyclones, tornados; deforestation; soil erosion Note: only 29 km from India across the Palk Strait; near major Indian Ocean sea lanes PEOPLE Population: 17,423,736 (July 1991), growth rate 1.2% (1991) Birth rate: 20 births/1,000 population (1991) Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991) Net migration rate: - 2 migrants/1,000 population (1991) Infant mortality rate: 21 deaths/1,000 live births (1991) Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 74 years female (1991) Total fertility rate: 2.3 children born/woman (1991) Nationality: noun--Sri Lankan(s); adjective--Sri Lankan Ethnic divisions: Sinhalese 74%; Tamil 18%; Moor 7%; Burgher, Malay, and Veddha 1% Religion: Buddhist 69%, Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 8% Language: Sinhala (official); Sinhala and Tamil listed as national languages; Sinhala spoken by about 74% of population, Tamil spoken by about 18%; English commonly used in government and spoken by about 10% of the population Literacy: 86% (male 91%, female 81%) age 15 and over can read and write (1981) Labor force: 6,600,000; agriculture 45.9%, mining and manufacturing 13.3%, trade and transport 12.4%, services and other 28.4% (1985 est.) Organized labor: about 33% of labor force, over 50% of which are employed on tea, rubber, and coconut estates GOVERNMENT Long-form name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Type: republic Capital: Colombo Administrative divisions: 24 districts; Amparai, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Batticaloa, Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalla, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Matara, Moneragala, Mullaittivu, Nuwara Eliya, Polonnaruwa, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Trincomalee, Vavuniya; note--the administrative structure may now include 8 provinces (Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, and Western) and 25 districts (with Kilinochchi added to the existing districts) Independence: 4 February 1948 (from UK; formerly Ceylon) Constitution: 31 August 1978 Legal system: a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction National holiday: Independence and National Day, 4 February (1948) Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament Judicial branch: Supreme Court Leaders: Chief of State--President Ranasinghe PREMADASA (since 2 January 1989); Head of Government--Prime Minister Dingiri Banda WIJETUNGE (since 6 March 1989) Political parties and leaders: United National Party (UNP), Ranasinghe PREMADASA; Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Sirimavo BANDARANAIKE; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), M. H. M. ASHRAFF; All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Kumar PONNAMBALAM; People's United Front (MEP, or Mahajana Eksath Peramuna), Dinesh GUNAWARDENE; Eelam Democratic Front (EDF), Edward Sebastian PILLAI; Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), leader (vacant); Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS), Velupillai BALAKUMARAN; New Socialist Party (NSSP, or Nava Sama Samaja Party), Vasudeva NANAYAKKARA; Lanka Socialist Party/Trotskyite (LSSP, or Lanka Sama Samaja Party), Colin R. de SILVA; Sri Lanka People's Party (SLMP, or Sri Lanka Mahajana Party), Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARANATUNGA; Communist Party/Moscow (CP/M), K. P. SILVA; Communist Party/Beijing (CP/B), N. SHANMUGATHASAN; note--the United Socialist Alliance (USA) includes the NSSP, LSSP, SLMP, CP/M, and CP/B Suffrage: universal at age 18 Elections: President--last held 19 December 1988 (next to be held December 1994); results--Ranasinghe PREMADASA (UNP) 50%, Sirimavo BANDARANAIKE (SLFP) 45%, other 5%; Parliament--last held 15 February 1989 (next to be held by February 1995); results--UNP 51%, SLFP 32%, SLMC 4%, TULF 3%, USA 3%, EROS 3%, MEP 1%, other 3%; seats--(225 total) UNP 125, SLFP 67, other 33 Other political or pressure groups: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other smaller Tamil separatist groups; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People's Liberation Front); Buddhist clergy; Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups; labor unions Member of: AsDB, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G-24, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO Diplomatic representation: Ambassador W. Susanta De ALWIS; Chancery at 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 483-4025 through 4028; there is a Sri Lankan Consulate in New York; US--Ambassador Marion V. CREEKMORE, Jr.; Embassy at 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 (mailing address is P. O. Box 106, Colombo); telephone 94 (1) 448007 Flag: yellow with two panels; the smaller hoist-side panel has two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and orange; the other panel is a large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion holding a sword and there is a yellow bo leaf in each corner; the yellow field appears as a border that goes around the entire flag and extends between the two panels ECONOMY Overview: Agriculture, forestry, and fishing dominate the economy, employing about 45% of the labor force and accounting for 26% of GDP. The plantation crops of tea, rubber, and coconuts provide about 35% of export earnings. The economy has been plagued by high rates of unemployment since the late 1970s. Economic growth, which has been depressed by ethnic unrest, accelerated in 1990 as domestic conditions began to improve. GDP: $6.6 billion, per capita $380; real growth rate 4.5% (1990 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 23% (1990) Unemployment rate: 20% (1990 est.) Budget: revenues $1.7 billion; expenditures $2.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $0.5 billion (1990) Exports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities--tea, textiles and garments, petroleum products, coconut, rubber, agricultural products, gems and jewelry, marine products; partners--US 26%, FRG, Japan, UK, Belgium, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China Imports: $2.2 billion (c.i.f., 1989); commodities--food and beverages, textiles and textile materials, petroleum, machinery and equipment; partners--Japan, Saudi Arabia, US 5.6%, India, Singapore, FRG, UK, Iran External debt: $5.6 billion (1989) Industrial production: growth rate 6% (1989 est.); accounts for 18% of GDP Electricity: 1,300,000 kW capacity; 4,200 million kWh produced, 240 kWh per capita (1990) Industries: processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco, clothing Agriculture: accounts for 26% of GDP and nearly half of labor force; most important staple crop is paddy rice; other field crops--sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseeds, roots, spices; cash crops--tea, rubber, coconuts; animal products--milk, eggs, hides, meat; not self-sufficient in rice production Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.0 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1980-88), $4.9 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $169 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $369 million Currency: Sri Lankan rupee (plural--rupees); 1 Sri Lankan rupee (SLRe) = 100 cents Exchange rates: Sri Lankan rupees (SLRs) per US$1--40.272 (January 1991), 40.063 (1990), 36.047 (1989), 31.807 (1988), 29.445 (1987), 28.017 (1986), 27.163 (1985) Fiscal year: calendar year COMMUNICATIONS Railroads: 1,948 km total (1989); all 1.868-meter broad gauge; 102 km double track; no electrification; government owned Highways: 75,263 km total (1988); 27,637 km paved (mostly bituminous treated), 32,887 km crushed stone or gravel, 14,739 km improved earth or unimproved earth; several thousand km of mostly unmotorable tracks (1988 est.) Inland waterways: 430 km; navigable by shallow-draft craft Pipelines: crude and refined products, 62 km (1987) Ports: Colombo, Trincomalee Merchant marine: 34 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 364,466 GRT/551,686 DWT; includes 18 cargo, 6 refrigerated cargo, 5 container, 2 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 3 bulk Civil air: 8 major transport (including 1 leased) Airports: 14 total, 13 usable; 12 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 7 with runways 1,220-2,439 m Telecommunications: good international service; 114,000 telephones (1982); stations--12 AM, 5 FM, 5 TV; submarine cables extend to Indonesia and Djibouti; 2 Indian Ocean INTELSAT earth stations DEFENSE FORCES Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Police Force Manpower availability: males 15-49, 4,636,767; 3,625,289 fit for military service; 178,010 reach military age (18) annually Defense expenditures: $300 million, 5% of GDP (1991)