Sri Lanka has a population of nearly 20 million: the resulting population density of 299 people per sq km is one of the highest in Asia. The welfare policies of the post independence governments have given to Sri Lanka a creditable literacy and health record. Adult literacy is a little over 90%. The life expectancy for men is 71 years and for women 76.

Ethnic Groups
Two major ethnic groups in Sri Lanka are Sinhalese and Tamils. Language and religion, however, are two important aspects in which two groups do differ.

Sinhalese
The Sinhalese constitute about 74% of the population. They speak Sinhala, are predominantly Buddhist and have a reputation as easy-going.

Tamils
The Tamils are the second-largest group, constituting about 18% of the population. Tamils are predominantly Hindu and speak Tamil.

Muslims
Muslims comprise about 7% of the population. Most of them are “Sri Lanka Moors’, whose presence goes back to Portuguese times and who are probably the descendants of Arab or Indian Muslim traders and the rest are Malays – who are of more eastern. Tamil is the mother tongue of most of them.

Others
The Burghers are Eurasians, primarily descendants of Portuguese and Dutch. For a time, even after independence, the Burghers had a disproportionate influence over the political and business life in Sri Lanka, but growing Sinhalese and Tamil nationalism has reduced their advantage and many Burghers have moved abroad.

Sri Lanka - Religion

Despite the diversity of belief in the country, Buddhism has a special place, as it is the religion of a large majority of the people, and like America, plays a significant role in politics. Around 70% population are Buddhists. The rest of the breakdown is as follows::
15% of the population, mainly Tamils, are Hindus
7.5 % of population account for Muslims and 7.5 % for Christians.

The high country is a beautiful land of sculptured tea plantations and Scottish Pines where temperatures plunge at night and you can see your breath. You'd hardly believe you are in the same country.

• Typical tropical country, very hot, with high humidity that makes you sweat all the time

• There are dry and wet seasons, which are influenced by two monsoons

• From May to August – south-west monsoon brings rain to the southern and western coastal regions and the central hill country

• The dry season is from December till March

• From October till January – the north-east monsoon brings rain to the north and east part of the island

• BUT the weather usually doesn’t stick to these seasons, it has changed so nothing is sure – it often seems to be raining where it should be sunny and vice versa

• Sri Lanka has suffered from a serious drought in recent years, which led to power shortages that influenced the industries. But rainfall has been plentiful in the last two years and with the introduction of small scaled thermal power plants the situation is nearly back to normal .

• The average temperature in Colombo (capital) is about 28 degrees Celsius

• In the hilly up-country region is much cooler – about 20 degrees Celsius or in Nuwara Eliya (16 degrees Celsius)

• The highest temperatures are from March to June (“Sri Lankan summer”) – temperature climbs to over 35 degrees Celsius with humidity of about 95 %
  

• Sri Lanka is a “green paradise”, more than 50% of the country is covered by the natural forest

• Sri Lanka has two marine sanctuaries: the Bar Reef and the Hikkaduwa + 24 wildlife sanctuaries

• Air in Colombo is quite polluted due to cars, buses, and tuk-tuks.

• There are nearly 100 protected areas acknowledged by the government all around the island due to more than 43 animal species that are endangered
  

• Gained independence from Britain on 4th of February 1948

• First republican constitution in 1972

• Sri Lanka’s executive president is elected for 6 years and has the power to appoint or dismiss members of the cabinet, including the prime minister and to dissolve parliament.

• Members of the parliament are elected by the people for 6 years

• The country has 8 provinces: Central, North-Central, North–Eastern, North-Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva and Western. These are ostensibly run by provincial governments, but in most cases these governments have little or no power.

• The real power is concentrated in the government appointed offices of Grama Sewaka (lowest level of administration, village-level or about 500 people), Divisional Secretary, and District Secretary.

• The legal system is a complex mix of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, Sinhalese and customary law.

• There has been an undeclared civil war between Sinhalese and Tamils (the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - LTTE) for almost 20 years.

• These were generally ethnic and religious rather than class conflicts. The conflicts in Sri Lanka illustrated the operation of some of the most combustible factors in ethnic relations: language, religion, long historical memories of tensions and conflict, and a prolonged separatist agitation.

• There are basically two sets of Tamils living in Sri Lanka. The first, or the Northern Tamils came as part of the Indian invasion close to 2000 years ago and only a couple hundred years behind the Sinhalese Aryans, who migrated from northern India and Bangladesh around 5-600 BC. These Tamils represent are the core of the LTTE, and have had conflicts with the Sinhalese, the Muslims, and with each other.

• It is interesting to note that there are more Tamils living in the south than in the LTTE-controlled north, since many have fled the conflict for the relative peace of the south and central regions of the country.

• The second set of Tamils were brought by British to work the tea plantations after the island was colonized in the mid-1800s, these represent roughly 40% of the Tamils on the island.

• The plantation Tamils are very poor and have the lowest literacy rates on the island.

• The war was especially devastating in the north and east of the country, the same part which bore the worst of the tsunami.

• Since February 2002 there have been there has been a Cease Fire Agreement in place between government of Sri Lanka and LTTE but the situation is still fairly volatile. People can go to areas which were closed to “normal” people before, and there are mostly no attacks, no curfews. For more information: www.peaceinsrilanka.com.
  

• You may hear the term "uncleared area" and this refers to areas where the Sri Lankan government is not the recognized authority on the ground - i.e. LTTE controlled areas.

• Since the tsunami, with the exception of a short time shortly after the wave hit, tensions have been increasing in the the uncleared north and east third of the island including the districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara. We advise all volunteers to avoid these regions.

• Sri Lanka’s biggest city (of two million people) and its commercial capital is Colombo. It holds less of obvious interest than many other parts of the island – but it’s a colorful place. Colombo is by no means overwhelming and its centre Fort is distinctly handy and very easy to get around on foot.

• Four the first 4 decades after independence Sri Lanka's capital was Colombo. Today the capital of Sri Lanka is Sri Jayawardana Pura Kotte, it was made the capital of Sri Lanka by Sri Lanka’s first executive president late J.R. Jayawardana. It's located just outside Colombo to the east and south.

• Colombo is broken into 15 postal code areas. Colombo’s main train station, Fort, is for example in Pettah, where many buses start and it is known as Colombo 11. Then you get for example Bambalapitiya, which is Colombo 4 and so on. It is very easy to orient in Colombo that way. For a volunteer it is always useful to buy the 73 page A-Z Street Guide and carry it in case you get lost.

• Colombo is a normal happening place where all necessary facilities to live comfortable are available: ATMs, banks, cinemas (English, Sinhalese), theatres, sport clubs, fitness centers, cricket grounds, temples, Christian churches, Hindu temples, tourist information office, post offices, internet cafes, bookshops, libraries, cultural centers, universities, laundry services, etc.

Newspapers

English Dailies – Ceylon Daily News, Evening Observer and The Island, Daily mirror
On Sundays – Sunday Observer, Sunday Island, the Sunday Times, the Sunday Leader,
Weekend Express
Wednesday - Midweek Mirror.