| Geography |
| Current Date/Time | 3:47 AM - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 |
| Location | Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India |
| Geographic Coordinates | 5.55' - 9.51' North, 79.41' - 81.54' East |
| Area | Land: 64,740 sq km (25,324 square miles) |
| Climate | Tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October) |
| Time | GMT/UTC plus five hours 30 minutes |
| Climate | Hot, humid, tropical | Average Temperatures | Maximum | Minimum | | Colombo | 87.7 F | 75.2 F | | Kandy | 83.7 F | 68.4 F | | Nuwara Eliya | 68.4 F | 52.5 F | |
| Geography - note | Strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes. |
| People |
| Population | 19,408,635 (July 2001 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 0.87% (2001 est.) |
| Ethnic groups | Sinhalese 74%, Tamil 18%, Moor 7%, Burgher, Malay, and Vedda 1% |
| Religions | Buddhist 70%, Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 7% (1999) |
| Languages | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population |
| Government |
| Government type | Democracy |
| Capital | Colombo |
| Independence | 4 February 1948 (from UK) |
| National Flag |  |
| Economy |
| GDP | US$48.1 billion |
| GDP per head | US$2,500 |
| Exports - commodities | Textiles and apparel, tea, diamonds, coconut products, petroleum products |
| Currency | Sri Lankan rupee (LKR) |
| Major industries | Processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; clothing, cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco, rice, sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseed, spices, tea, rubber, coconuts; milk, eggs, hides, beef |
| Major trading partners | US, UK, Germany, Japan, Singapore, India, Iran, Taiwan, Belgium, Hong Kong, China, South Korea |
