Compare Kuwait (2008) - Sri Lanka (2006)

Compare Kuwait (2008) z Sri Lanka (2006)

	Kuwait (2008)	Sri Lanka (2006)

Administrative divisions	6 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Al Ahmadi, Al 'Asimah, Al Farwaniyah, Al Jahra', Hawalli, Mubarak Al Kabir	8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western note: in 1998 the Government of Sri Lanka proposed a merger of the former Northern and Eastern provinces; while this merger was never ratified, the Government treats North Eastern Province as a de facto singular administrative unit
Age structure	0-14 years: 26.7% (male 340,814/female 328,663) 15-64 years: 70.5% (male 1,128,231/female 636,967) 65 years and over: 2.8% (male 44,542/female 26,342) (2007 est.)	0-14 years: 24.1% (male 2,488,689/female 2,379,233) 15-64 years: 68.6% (male 6,727,399/female 7,140,751) 65 years and over: 7.3% (male 687,842/female 798,326) (2006 est.)
Agriculture - products	practically no crops; fish	rice, sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseed, spices, tea, rubber, coconuts; milk, eggs, hides, beef; fish
Airports	7 (2007)	16 (2006)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 4 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2007)	total: 14 over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 7 (2006)
Airports - with unpaved runways	total: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 2 (2007)	total: 2 under 914 m: 2 (2006)
Area	total: 17,820 sq km land: 17,820 sq km water: 0 sq km	total: 65,610 sq km land: 64,740 sq km water: 870 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than New Jersey	slightly larger than West Virginia
Background	Britain oversaw foreign relations and defense for the ruling Kuwaiti AL-SABAH dynasty from 1899 until independence in 1961. Kuwait was attacked and overrun by Iraq on 2 August 1990. Following several weeks of aerial bombardment, a US-led, UN coalition began a ground assault on 23 February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four days. Kuwait spent more than $5 billion to repair oil infrastructure damaged during 1990-91. The AL-SABAH family has ruled since returning to power in 1991, and reestablished an elected legislature that in recent years has become increasingly assertive.	The Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka late in the 6th century B.C., probably from northern India. Buddhism was introduced beginning in about the mid-third century B.C., and a great civilization developed at the cities of Anuradhapura (kingdom from circa 200 B.C. to circa A.D. 1000) and Polonnaruwa (from about 1070 to 1200). In the 14th century, a south Indian dynasty seized power in the north and established a Tamil kingdom. Occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century and by the Dutch in the 17th century, the island was ceded to the British in 1796, became a crown colony in 1802, and was united under British rule by 1815. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948; its name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. Tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists erupted into war in 1983. Tens of thousands have died in an ethnic conflict that continues to fester. After two decades of fighting, the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam formalized a cease-fire in February 2002, with Norway brokering peace negotiations.
Birth rate	21.95 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)	15.51 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Budget	revenues: $66.92 billion expenditures: $36.39 billion (2007 est.)	revenues: $3.804 billion expenditures: $5.469 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)
Capital	name: Kuwait geographic coordinates: 29 22 N, 47 58 E time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)	name: Colombo geographic coordinates: 6 56 N, 79 51 E time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) note: Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative capital)
Climate	dry desert; intensely hot summers; short, cool winters	tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October)
Coastline	499 km	1,340 km
Constitution	approved and promulgated 11 November 1962	adopted 16 August 1978, certified 31 August 1978
Country name	conventional long form: State of Kuwait conventional short form: Kuwait local long form: Dawlat al Kuwayt local short form: Al Kuwayt	conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka conventional short form: Sri Lanka local long form: Shri Lamka Prajatantrika Samajaya di Janarajaya/Ilankai Jananayaka Choshalichak Kutiyarachu local short form: Shri Lamka/Ilankai former: Serendib, Ceylon
Death rate	2.39 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)	6.52 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Debt - external	$33.61 billion (31 December 2007 est.)	$11.05 billion (2005 est.)
Diplomatic representation from the US	chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Alan MISENHEIMER embassy: Bayan 36302, Area 14, Al-Masjed Al-Aqsa Street (near the Bayan palace), Kuwait City mailing address: P. O. Box 77 Safat 13001 Kuwait; or PSC 1280 APO AE 09880-9000 telephone: [965] 259-1001 FAX: [965] 538-0282	chief of mission: Ambassador Robert O. BLAKE, Jr. embassy: 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 mailing address: P. O. Box 106, Colombo telephone: [94] (11) 249-8500 FAX: [94] (11) 243-7345
Diplomatic representation in the US	chief of mission: Ambassador SALIM al-Abdallah al-Jabir al-Sabah chancery: 2940 Tilden Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 966-0702 FAX: [1] (202) 966-0517	chief of mission: Ambassador Bernard GOONETILLEKE chancery: 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 483-4025 (through 4028) FAX: [1] (202) 232-7181 consulate(s) general: Los Angeles consulate(s): New York
Disputes - international	Kuwait and Saudi Arabia continue negotiating a joint maritime boundary with Iran; no maritime boundary exists with Iraq in the Persian Gulf	none
Economic aid - recipient	$2.6 million (2004)	$577 million (1998)
Economy - overview	Kuwait is a small, rich, relatively open economy with self-reported crude oil reserves of about 104 billion barrels - 10% of world reserves. Petroleum accounts for nearly half of GDP, 95% of export revenues, and 80% of government income. High oil prices in recent years have helped build Kuwait's budget and trade surpluses and foreign reserves. As a result of this positive fiscal situation, the need for economic reforms is less urgent and the government has not earnestly pushed through new initiatives. Despite its vast oil reserves, Kuwait experienced power outages during the summer months in 2006 and 2007 because demand exceeded power generating capacity. Power outages are likely to worsen, given its high population growth rates, unless the government can increase generating capacity. In May 2007 Kuwait changed its currency peg from the US dollar to a basket of currencies in order to curb inflation and to reduce its vulnerability to external shocks.	In 1977, Colombo abandoned statist economic policies and its import substitution trade policy for market-oriented policies and export-oriented trade. Sri Lanka's most dynamic sectors now are food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, telecommunications, and insurance and banking. In 2003, plantation crops made up only 15% of exports (compared with 93% in 1970), while textiles and garments accounted for 63%. GDP grew at an average annual rate of about 5.5% in the 1990s, but 2001 saw the first contraction in the country's history, by 1.4%, due to a combination of power shortages, severe budgetary problems, the global slowdown, and continuing civil strife. Growth recovered to 5% between 2002 and 2005. About 800,000 Sri Lankans work abroad, 90% in the Middle East. They send home about $1 billion a year. The struggle by the Tamil Tigers of the north and east for a largely independent homeland continues to cast a shadow over the economy. 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.
Electricity - consumption	36.28 billion kWh (2005)	6.796 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - exports	0 kWh (2005)	0 kWh (2003)
Electricity - imports	0 kWh (2005)	0 kWh (2003)
Electricity - production	41.11 billion kWh (2005)	7.308 billion kWh (2003)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m highest point: unnamed location 306 m	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Pidurutalagala 2,524 m
Environment - current issues	limited natural fresh water resources; some of world's largest and most sophisticated desalination facilities provide much of the water; air and water pollution; desertification	deforestation; soil erosion; wildlife populations threatened by poaching and urbanization; coastal degradation from mining activities and increased pollution; freshwater resources being polluted by industrial wastes and sewage runoff; waste disposal; air pollution in Colombo
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
Ethnic groups	Kuwaiti 45%, other Arab 35%, South Asian 9%, Iranian 4%, other 7%	Sinhalese 73.8%, Sri Lankan Moors 7.2%, Indian Tamil 4.6%, Sri Lankan Tamil 3.9%, other 0.5%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data)
Exchange rates	Kuwaiti dinars per US dollar - 0.2844 (2007), 0.29 (2006), 0.292 (2005), 0.2947 (2004), 0.298 (2003)	Sri Lankan rupees per US dollar - 100.498 (2005), 101.194 (2004), 96.521 (2003), 95.662 (2002), 89.383 (2001)
Executive branch	chief of state: Amir SABAH al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah (since 29 January 2006); Crown Prince NAWAF al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah head of government: Prime Minister NASIR MUHAMMAD al-Ahmad al-Sabah (since 3 April 2007); First Deputy Prime Minister JABIR Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah (since 9 February 2006); Deputy Prime Ministers MUHAMMAD al-Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah (since 9 February 2006) and Faysal al-HAJJI (since 5 April 2007) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister and approved by the amir elections: none; the amir is hereditary; the amir appoints the prime minister and deputy prime ministers	chief of state: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSE (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 ceremonial title of prime minister head of government: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSE (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 17 November 2005 (next to be held 2011) election results: Mahinda RAJAPAKSE elected president; percent of vote - Mahinda RAJAPAKSE 50.3%, Ranil WICKREMESINGHE 48.4%, other 1.3%
Exports	2.2 million bbl/day (2004)	NA bbl/day
Exports - commodities	oil and refined products, fertilizers	textiles and apparel, tea and spices; diamonds, emeralds, rubies; coconut products, rubber manufactures, fish
Exports - partners	Japan 20.4%, South Korea 16.2%, Taiwan 10.8%, Singapore 9.7%, US 9%, Netherlands 5.3%, China 4.1% (2006)	US 30.9%, UK 11.6%, India 7.3%, Belgium 4.8%, Germany 4.5% (2005)
Fiscal year	1 April - 31 March	calendar year
Flag description	three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red with a black trapezoid based on the hoist side; design, which dates to 1961, based on the Arab revolt flag of World War I	yellow with two panels; the smaller hoist-side panel has two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and orange; the other panel is a large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion holding a sword, and there is a yellow bo leaf in each corner; the yellow field appears as a border around the entire flag and extends between the two panels
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: 0.4% industry: 54.7% services: 44.9% (2007 est.)	agriculture: 17.8% industry: 27.6% services: 54.5% (2005 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	5.6% (2007 est.)	6% (2005 est.)
Geographic coordinates	29 30 N, 45 45 E	7 00 N, 81 00 E
Geography - note	strategic location at head of Persian Gulf	strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes
Heliports	4 (2007)	-
Household income or consumption by percentage share	lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%	lowest 10%: 3.5% highest 10%: 28% (1995)
Imports	2,611 bbl/day (2004)	NA bbl/day
Imports - commodities	food, construction materials, vehicles and parts, clothing	textile fabrics, mineral products, petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and transportation equipment
Imports - partners	US 14.1%, Germany 7.9%, Japan 7.8%, Saudi Arabia 6.8%, China 5.7%, UK 5.4%, Italy 4.6% (2006)	India 19.7%, China 9.9%, Singapore 7.2%, Iran 5.5%, Malaysia 4.6%, Hong Kong 4.5% (2005)
Independence	19 June 1961 (from UK)	4 February 1948 (from UK)
Industrial production growth rate	0.8% (2007 est.)	8.2% (2005 est.)
Industries	petroleum, petrochemicals, cement, shipbuilding and repair, water desalination, food processing, construction materials	processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, tobacco and other agricultural commodities; telecommunications, insurance, banking; clothing, textiles; cement, petroleum refining
Infant mortality rate	total: 9.47 deaths/1,000 live births male: 10.48 deaths/1,000 live births female: 8.42 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)	total: 13.97 deaths/1,000 live births male: 15.18 deaths/1,000 live births female: 12.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	3.9% (2007 est.)	11.6% (2005 est.)
International organization participation	ABEDA, AfDB, AFESD, AMF, BDEAC, CAEU, FAO, G-77, GCC, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO	AsDB, BIMSTEC, C, CP, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIS, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO
Irrigated land	130 sq km (2003)	7,430 sq km (2003)
Judicial branch	High Court of Appeal	Supreme Court; Court of Appeals; judges for both courts are appointed by the president
Labor force	1.167 million note: non-Kuwaitis represent about 80% of the labor force (2007 est.)	8.08 million (2005 est.)
Labor force - by occupation	agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: NA%	agriculture: 38% industry: 17% services: 45% (1998 est.)
Land boundaries	total: 462 km border countries: Iraq 240 km, Saudi Arabia 222 km	0 km
Land use	arable land: 0.84% permanent crops: 0.17% other: 98.99% (2005)	arable land: 13.96% permanent crops: 15.24% other: 70.8% (2005)
Languages	Arabic (official), English widely spoken	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
Legal system	civil law system with Islamic law significant in personal matters; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction	a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, Sinhalese, and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Legislative branch	unicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-Umma (50 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms; all cabinet ministers are also ex officio voting members of the National Assembly) elections: last held 29 June 2006 (next election to be held in 2010) election results: percent of vote by bloc - NA; seats by bloc - Islamic Bloc (Sunni) 17, Popular Bloc 9, National Action Bloc (liberals) 8, independents 16	unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected by popular vote on the basis of a modified proportional representation system by district to serve six-year terms) elections: last held 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 37.83%, TNA 6.84%, JHU 5.97%, SLMC 2.02%, UPF 0.54%, EPDP 0.27%, others 0.93%; seats by party - UNP 68, SLFP 57, JVP 39, UNP dissident 1, TNA 22, CWC 8, JHU 7, JHU dissidents 2, SLMC 6, SLMC dissidents 4, Communist Party 2, LSSP 2, MEP 2, NUA 2, UPF 2, EPDP 1
Life expectancy at birth	total population: 77.36 years male: 76.25 years female: 78.52 years (2007 est.)	total population: 73.41 years male: 70.83 years female: 76.12 years (2006 est.)
Literacy	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 93.3% male: 94.4% female: 91% (2005 census)	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 92.3% male: 94.8% female: 90% (2003 est.)
Location	Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iraq and Saudi Arabia	Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India
Map references	Middle East	Asia
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 12 nm	territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
Merchant marine	total: 38 ships (1000 GRT or over) 2,195,831 GRT/3,566,308 DWT by type: bulk carrier 2, cargo 1, container 6, liquefied gas 5, livestock carrier 3, petroleum tanker 21 registered in other countries: 28 (Bahrain 3, Comoros 1, Liberia 1, Libya 1, Panama 1, Qatar 7, Saudi Arabia 6, UAE 8) (2007)	total: 22 ships (1000 GRT or over) 144,066 GRT/196,418 DWT by type: bulk carrier 1, cargo 17, container 2, petroleum tanker 2 foreign-owned: 7 (Germany 5, UAE 2) registered in other countries: 5 (Panama 5) (2006)
Military branches	Land Forces, Kuwaiti Navy, Kuwaiti Air Force (Al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Kuwaitiya), National Guard (2007)	Sri Lankan Army, Sri Lankan Navy, Sri Lankan Air Force (2006)
Military expenditures - dollar figure	-	$606.2 million (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	5.3% (2006)	2.6% (2005 est.)
National holiday	National Day, 25 February (1950)	Independence Day, 4 February (1948)
Nationality	noun: Kuwaiti(s) adjective: Kuwaiti	noun: Sri Lankan(s) adjective: Sri Lankan
Natural hazards	sudden cloudbursts are common from October to April and bring heavy rain, which can damage roads and houses; sandstorms and dust storms occur throughout the year, but are most common between March and August	occasional cyclones and tornadoes
Natural resources	petroleum, fish, shrimp, natural gas	limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates, clay, hydropower
Net migration rate	16.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)	-1.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Pipelines	gas 269 km; oil 540 km; refined products 57 km (2007)	-
Political parties and leaders	none; formation of political parties is in practice illegal, but is not forbidden by law	All Ceylon Tamil Congress or ACTC [KUMARGURUPARAM]; Ceylon Workers Congress or CWC [Arumugam THONDAMAN]; Communist Party or CP [D. GUNASEKERA]; Democratic United National (Lalith) Front or DUNLF [Shrimani ATULATHMUDALI]; Eelam People's Democratic Party or EPDP [Douglas DEVANANDA]; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front or EPRLF [Suresh PREMACHANDRAN]; Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna or JVP [Somawansa AMARASINGHE]; Lanka Sama Samaja Party or LSSP; Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) or MEP [D. GUNAWARDENE]; National Heritage Party or JHU [Tilak KARUNARATNE]; National Unity Alliance or NUA [Ferial ASHRAFF]; People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [D. SIDHARTHAN]; Sihala Urumaya or SU; Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP [Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA]; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress or SLMC [Rauff HAKEEM]; Sri Lanka Progressive Front or SLPF [P. Nelson PERERA]; Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO [SABARATNAM]; 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]; several ethnic Tamil and Muslim parties, represented in either Parliament or provincial councils
Political pressure groups and leaders	a number of political groups act as de facto parties; several legislative blocs operate in the National Assembly: tribal groups, merchants, Shi'a activists, Islamists, secular liberals and pro-government deputies; in mid-2006, a coalition of Islamists, liberals, and Shia campaigned successfully for electoral reform to reduce corruption	Buddhist clergy; labor unions; Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE [Velupillai PRABHAKARAN](insurgent group fighting for a separate state); radical chauvinist Sinhalese groups such as the National Movement Against Terrorism; Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups
Population	2,505,559 note: includes 1,291,354 non-nationals (July 2007 est.)	20,222,240 note: since the outbreak of hostilities between the government and armed Tamil separatists in the mid-1980s, several hundred thousand Tamil civilians have fled the island and more than 200,000 Tamils have sought refuge in the West (July 2006 est.)
Population below poverty line	NA%	22% (1997 est.)
Population growth rate	3.561% note: this rate reflects a return to pre-Gulf crisis immigration of expatriates (2007 est.)	0.78% (2006 est.)
Radio broadcast stations	AM 6, FM 11, shortwave 1 (1998)	AM 26, FM 45, shortwave 1 (1998)
Railways	-	total: 1,449 km broad gauge: 1,449 km 1.676-m gauge (2005)
Religions	Muslim 85% (Sunni 70%, Shi'a 30%), other (includes Christian, Hindu, Parsi) 15%	Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data)
Sex ratio	at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.037 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.771 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.691 male(s)/female total population: 1.526 male(s)/female (2007 est.)	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
Suffrage	NA years of age; universal (adult); note - males in the military or police are not allowed to vote; adult females were allowed to vote as of 16 May 2005; all voters must have been citizens for 20 years	18 years of age; universal
Telephone system	general assessment: the quality of service is excellent domestic: new telephone exchanges provide a large capacity for new subscribers; trunk traffic is carried by microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, and open-wire and fiber-optic cable; a cellular telephone system operates throughout Kuwait, and the country is well supplied with pay telephones international: country code - 965; linked to international submarine cable Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG); linked to Bahrain, Qatar, UAE via the Fiber-Optic Gulf (FOG) cable; coaxial cable and microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean, 2 Indian Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean), and 2 Arabsat	general assessment: very inadequate domestic service, particularly in rural areas; likely improvement with privatization of national telephone company and encouragement to private investment; good international service (1999) domestic: national trunk network consists mostly of digital microwave radio relay; fiber-optic links now in use in Colombo area and two fixed wireless local loops have been installed; competition is strong in mobile cellular systems; telephone density remains low (1999) international: country code - 94; submarine cables to Indonesia and Djibouti; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) (1999)
Telephones - main lines in use	510,300 (2005)	1.244 million (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular	2.536 million (2006)	3.362 million (2005)
Television broadcast stations	13 (plus several satellite channels) (1997)	21 (1997)
Terrain	flat to slightly undulating desert plain	mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior
Total fertility rate	2.86 children born/woman (2007 est.)	1.84 children born/woman (2006 est.)
Unemployment rate	2.2% (2004 est.)	7.7% (2005 est.)
Waterways	-	160 km (primarily on rivers in southwest) (2005)

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