Sri Lanka
Tourist guide	Sri Lanka Photo gallery

Sri Lanka (from the Sanskrit “ Venerable Island ” ), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia , located about 31 kilometers (19.3 mi) off the southern coast of India . Sri Lanka is about twice the size of Belgium. Most of the land is flat and rolling; mountains in the south-central region rise to over 8,000 ft (2,438 m). It is home to around twenty million people.

Because of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia , and has been a center of Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times . Today, the country is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation, with more than a quarter of the population following faiths other than Buddhism, notably Hinduism , Christianity and Islam . [Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

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Country Profile

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Demographic Information

Land area: 24,996 sq mi (64,740 sq km); total area: 25,332 sq mi (65,610 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 20,222,240 (growth rate: 0.8%); birth rate: 15.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 14.0/1000; life expectancy: 73.4; density per sq mi: 809

Map of Sri Lanka	Kalutara Bodhiya	Pinnawala

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Colombo, 2,436,000 (metro. area), 656,100 (city proper). Legislative and judicial capital: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, 118,300

Monetary unit: Sri Lanka rupee

Languages: Sinhala 74%, Tamil 18%, and other 8%; English is commonly used in government and spoken competently by about 10%. [Source: Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka]