Country Name :

Conventional long form : Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Conventional short form : Sri Lanka

Former: Ceylon

Size :

The maximum length is 432km from North to South and its maximum width is 224 km from East to West. It has an area of 65,525 sq km

Location :

Sri Lanka, an island in the Indian Ocean is located to the south of the Indian subcontinent.

Climate and Seasons:

In the lowlands the climate is typically tropical with an average temperature of 27°C in Colombo. In the higher elevations it can be quite cool with temperatures going down to 16°C at an altitude of nearly 2,000 meters.

Bright, sunny warm days are the rule and are common even during the height of the monsoon - climatically Sri Lanka has no off season.

The south west monsoon brings rain mainly from May to July to the western, southern and central regions of the island, while the north-east monsoon rains occur in the northern and eastern regions in December and January.

Capital :

Commercial capital :

Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte

Colombo

Government :

Sri Lanka is a free, independent and sovereign nation. A system of administration through provincial councils was introduced in 1988. Legislative power is exercised by Parliament, elected by universal franchise on a proportional representation basis.

Head of State/ Government:

His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena, President of Sri Lanka

Prime Minister :

Honourable Ranil Wickremesinghe (appointed by the President) 

Administrative Provinces :

Central , North Central, Eastern, North-Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western and Northern

Districts :

Colombo, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Hambantota, Anuradhapura, Galle, Polonaruwa, Kurunegala, Trincomalee, Jaffna, Matara, Badulla, Kalutara, Moneragala, Ampara, Matale, Batticaloa, Killinochchi, Vavuniya, Mulativu, Mannar,  Puttalam, Gampaha, Kegalle, Ratnapura.

Independence:

February 4^th 1948

Population:

21 million

Ethnicity:

Sinhalese (73.9%), Sri Lankan Tamils (12.7%), Sri Lankan Moors (7.1%), Indian Tamils (5.5%), Burghers (0.3%), Malays (0.3%),others (0.2%)

Religion:

Buddhist (69.3%), Hindu (15.4%), Muslim (7.6%), Roman Catholic (6.9%), Other Christians (0.7%), Others (0.1%)

Language

Sinhala and Tamil are the official and national languages. The link language is English.

Suffrage:

18 years of age, universal

Monetary unit:

Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR)