CClimate: ttropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October) LLocation: SSouthern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India GGeography: SStrategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes

 Population:  21,128,772 (July 2008)  Age Structure:  0-14 years: 24.1% (male 2,596,463/female 2,495,136) years: 68% (male 7,019,446/female 7,340,809) 65 years and over: 7.9% (male 783,823/female 893,096) (2008 est.)  Living with HIV:  3,500 (2001 est.)  HIV Deaths:  Fewer than 200 (2003 est.)

 Risk of Disease:  degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A vectorborne disease: dengue fever and malaria water contact disease: leptospirosis (2008)  Nationality:  Sri Lankan  Language:  Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population

 Buddhist 69.1%  Muslim 7.6%  Hindu 7.1%  Christian 6.2%  Unspecified 10% (2001)

 Republic  Captial:  Colombo  Administrative Provinces:  8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western  Independence:  February 4 (From UK)

 Legal Systems:  a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Kandyan, and Jaffna Tamil law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

EExecutive: cchief of state: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA (since 19 November 2005); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government; Ratnasiri WICKREMANAYAKE (since 21 November 2005) holds the largely ceremonial title of prime minister head of government: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA (since 19 November 2005) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 17 November 2005 (next to be held in 2011) election results: Mahinda RAJAPAKSA elected president; percent of vote - Mahinda RAJAPAKSA 50.3%, Ranil WICKREMESINGHE 48.4%, other 1.3%

 Judicial:  Supreme Court; Court of Appeals; judges for both courts are appointed by the president.  Political Parties and Leaders:  All Ceylon Tamil Congress or ACTC [G.PONNAMBALAM]; Ceylon Workers Congress or CWC [Arumugam THONDAMAN]; Communist Party or CP [D. GUNASEKERA]; Eelam People's Democratic Party or EPDP [Douglas DEVANANDA]; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front or EPRLF [Suresh PREMACHANDRAN]; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP [Somawansa AMARASINGHE]; Lanka Sama Samaja Party or LSSP [Tissa VITHARANA]; Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) or MEP [D. GUNAWARDENE]; National Heritage Party or JHU [Ellawala METHANANDA]; National Unity Alliance or NUA [Ferial ASHRAFF]; People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [D. SIDHARTHAN]; Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP [Mahinda RAJAPAKSA]; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress or SLMC [Rauff HAKEEM]; Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO [Selvam ADAIKALANATHAN]; Tamil National Alliance or TNA [R. SAMPANTHAN]; Tamil United Liberation Front or TULF [V. ANANDASANGAREE]; United National Party or UNP [Ranil WICKREMASINGHE]; Up-country People's Front or UPF [P. CHANDRASEKARAN]

 Legislative:  unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected by popular vote on the basis of an open-list, proportional representation system by electoral district to serve six- year terms) elections: last held on 2 April 2004 (next to be held by 2010) election results: percent of vote by party or electoral alliance - SLFP and JVP (no longer in formal UPFA alliance) 45.6%, UNP 37.8%, TNA 6.8%, JHU 6%, SLMC 2%, UPF 0.5%, EPDP 0.3%, other 1%; seats by party - UNP 68, SLFP 57, JVP 39, TNA 22, CWC 8, JHU 7, SLMC 6, SLMC dissidents 4, Communist Party 2, JHU dissidents 2, LSSP 2, MEP 2, NUA 2, UPF 2, EPDP 1, UNP dissident 1

 Economy Overview:  In 1977, Colombo abandoned statist economic policies and its import substitution trade policy for more market-oriented policies, export-oriented trade, and encouragement of foreign investment. Recent changes in government, however, have brought some policy reversals. Currently, the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party has a more statist economic approach, which seeks to reduce poverty by steering investment to disadvantaged areas, developing small and medium enterprises, promoting agriculture, and expanding the already enormous civil service. The government has halted privatizations. Although suffering a brutal civil war that began in 1983, Sri Lanka saw GDP growth average 4.5% in the last 10 years with the exception of a recession in In late December 2004, a major tsunami took about 31,000 lives, left more than 6,300 missing and 443,000 displaced, and destroyed an estimated $1.5 billion worth of property. Government spending and reconstruction drove growth to more than 7% in 2006 but reduced agriculture output probably slowed growth to about 6 percent in Government spending and loose monetary policy drove inflation to nearly 16% in Sri Lanka's most dynamic sectors now are food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, port construction, telecommunications, and insurance and banking. In 2006, plantation crops made up only about 15% of exports (compared with more than 90% in 1970), while textiles and garments accounted for more than 60%. About 800,000 Sri Lankans work abroad, 90% of them in the Middle East. They send home more than $1 billion a year. The struggle by the Tamil Tigers of the north and east for an independent homeland continues to cast a shadow over the economy.

 GDP (purchasing power parity):  $82.02 billion (2007 est.)  GDP (official exchange rate):  $30.01 billion (2007 est.)  GDP - real growth rate  6.8% (2007 est.)  GDP – Per Capita (PPP):  $4,000 (2007 est.)  GDP - composition by sector:  agriculture: 11.7% industry: 29.9% services: 58.4% (2007 est.)  Unemployment Rate:  6% (est. 2007est.)

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