Sri Lanka (2005) | Serbia (2006) | |
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Administrative divisions | 8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western; note - North Eastern province may have been divided in two - Northern and Eastern | 29 districts (okrugov; singular - okrug), 1 capital city*
Serbia Proper: Belgrad*, Bor, Branicevo, Jablanica, Kolubara, Macva, Moravica, Nisava, Pcinja, Pirot, Podunavlje, Pomoravlje, Rasina, Raska, Sumadija, Toplica, Zajecar, Zlatibor Vojvodina Autonomous Province: Central Banat, North Backa, North Banat, South Backa, South Banat, Srem, West Backa Kosovo and Metojia Autonomous Province: Kosovo, Kosovska-Mitrovica, Kosovo-Pomoravlje, Pec, Prizren |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 24.5% (male 2,508,384/female 2,397,986)
15-64 years: 68.4% (male 6,658,765/female 7,059,468) 65 years and over: 7.2% (male 670,813/female 769,360) (2005 est.) |
- |
Agriculture - products | rice, sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseed, spices, tea, rubber, coconuts; milk, eggs, hides, beef | wheat, maize, sugar beets, sunflower, beef, pork, milk |
Airports | 14 (2004 est.) | 39 (2006) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 13
over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 6 (2004 est.) |
total: 16
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 4 (2006) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 1
under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
total: 23
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 9 under 914 m: 12 (2006) |
Area | total: 65,610 sq km
land: 64,740 sq km water: 870 sq km |
total: 88,361 sq km
land: 88,361 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly larger than West Virginia | slightly larger than South Carolina |
Background | 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. | The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was formed in 1918; its name was changed to Yugoslavia in 1929. Occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941 was resisted by various paramilitary bands that fought each other as well as the invaders. The group headed by Josip TITO took full control of Yugoslavia upon German expulsion in 1945. Although Communist, his new government and its successors (he died in 1980) managed to steer their own path between the Warsaw Pact nations and the West for the next four and a half decades. In the early 1990s, post-TITO Yugoslavia began to unravel along ethnic lines: Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were recognized as independent states in 1992. The remaining republics of Serbia and Montenegro declared a new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in April 1992 and, under President Slobodan MILOSEVIC, Serbia led various military intervention efforts to unite ethnic Serbs in neighboring republics into a "Greater Serbia." These actions led to Yugoslavia being ousted from the UN in 1992, but Serbia continued its campaign until signing the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. In 1998-99, massive expulsions by FRY forces and Serb paramilitaries of ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo provoked an international response, including the NATO bombing of Belgrade and the stationing of a NATO-led force (KFOR), in Kosovo. Federal elections in the fall of 2000, brought about the ouster of MILOSEVIC and installed Vojislav KOSTUNICA as president. The arrest of MILOSEVIC in 2001 allowed for his subsequent transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague to be tried for crimes against humanity. In 2001, the country's suspension from the UN was lifted, and it was once more accepted into UN organizations under the name of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Kosovo has been governed by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) since June 1999, under the authority of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, pending a determination by the international community of its future status. In 2002, the Serbian and Montenegrin components of Yugoslavia began negotiations to forge a looser relationship. In February 2003 lawmakers restructured the country into a loose federation of two republics called Serbia and Montenegro. The Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro included a provision that allowed either republic to hold a referendum after three years that would allow for their independence from the state union. In the spring of 2006, Montenegro took advantage of the provision to undertake a successful independence vote enabling it to secede on 3 June. Two days later, Serbia declared that it was the successor state to the union of Serbia and Montenegro. |
Birth rate | 15.63 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Budget | revenues: $3.34 billion
expenditures: $4.686 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.) |
revenues: $11.45 billion
expenditures: $11.12 billion; including capital expenditures $NA; note - figures are for Serbia and Montenegro; Serbian Statistical Office indicates that for 2006 budget, Serbia will have revenues of $7.08 billion (2005 est.) |
Capital | Colombo; note - Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital | name: Belgrade
geographic coordinates: 44 50 N, 20 30 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |
Climate | tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October) | in the north, continental climate (cold winters and hot, humid summers with well distributed rainfall); in other parts, continental and Mediterranean climate (hot, dry summers and autumns and relatively cold winters with heavy snowfall) |
Coastline | 1,340 km | 0 km (landlocked) |
Constitution | adopted 16 August 1978, certified 31 August 1978; new constitution proposed in 2002 | 28 September 1990; note - a new draft constitution approved by Parliament on 30 September 2006 stresses that Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia; the draft must still be approved by a national referendum |
Country name | conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
conventional short form: Sri Lanka former: Serendib, Ceylon |
conventional long form: Republic of Serbia
conventional short form: Serbia local long form: Republika Srbija local short form: Srbija former: People's Republic of Serbia, Socialist Republic of Serbia |
Death rate | 6.49 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Debt - external | $10.85 billion (2004 est.) | $15.43 billion (including Montenegro) (2005 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Jeffrey J. LUNSTEAD
embassy: 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 mailing address: P. O. Box 106, Colombo telephone: [94] (11) 244-8007 FAX: [94] (11) 243-7345 |
chief of mission: Ambassador Michael C. POLT
embassy: Kneza Milosa 50, 11000 Belgrade mailing address: 5070 Belgrade Place, Washington, DC 20521-5070 telephone: [381] (11) 361-9344 FAX: [381] (11) 361-8230 note: there is a branch office in Pristina at 30 Nazim Hikmet 38000 Prstina, Kososvo; telephone: [381] (38) 549-516; FAX:[381] (38) 549-890 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | 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 |
chief of mission: Ambassador Ivan VUJACIC
chancery: 2134 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 332-0333 FAX: [1] (202) 332-3933 consulate(s) general: Chicago, New York |
Disputes - international | none | the final status of the Serbian province of Kosovo remains unresolved and several thousand peacekeepers from the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) have administered the region since 1999, with Kosovar Albanians overwhelmingly supporting and Serbian officials opposing Kosovo independence; the international community had agreed to begin a process to determine final status but contingency of solidifying multi-ethnic democracy in Kosovo has not been satisfied; ethnic Albanians in Kosovo refuse demarcation of the boundary with Macedonia in accordance with the 2000 Macedonia-Serbia and Montenegro delimitation agreement; Serbia and Montenegro delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and Herzegovina, but sections with Serbia along the Drina River remain in dispute |
Economic aid - recipient | $577 million (1998) | $2 billion pledged in 2001 to Serbia and Montenegro (disbursements to follow over several years; aid pledged by EU and US has been placed on hold because of lack of cooperation by Serbia in handing over General Ratco MLADIC to the criminal court in The Hague) |
Economy - overview | 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 5.5% in the early 1990s until a drought and a deteriorating security situation lowered growth to 3.8% in 1996. The economy rebounded in 1997-2000 with average growth of 5.3%, but 2001 saw the first contraction in the country's history, -1.4%, due to a combination of power shortages, severe budgetary problems, the global slowdown, and continuing civil strife. Growth recovered to 4.0% in 2002 and to 5.2% in both 2003 and 2004. 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. | MILOSEVIC-era mismanagement of the economy, an extended period of economic sanctions, and the damage to Yugoslavia's infrastructure and industry during the NATO airstrikes in 1999 left the economy only half the size it was in 1990. After the ousting of former Federal Yugoslav President MILOSEVIC in October 2000, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition government implemented stabilization measures and embarked on a market reform program. After renewing its membership in the IMF in December 2000, a down-sized Yugoslavia continued to reintegrate into the international community by rejoining the World Bank (IBRD) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). A World Bank-European Commission sponsored Donors' Conference held in June 2001 raised $1.3 billion for economic restructuring. In November 2001, the Paris Club agreed to reschedule the country's $4.5 billion public debt and wrote off 66% of the debt. In July 2004, the London Club of private creditors forgave $1.7 billion of debt, just over half the total owed. Belgrade has made only minimal progress in restructuring and privatizing its holdings in major sectors of the economy, including energy and telecommunications. It has made halting progress towards EU membership and is currently pursuing a Stabilization and Association Agreement with Brussels. Serbia is also pursuing membership in the World Trade Organization. Unemployment remains an ongoing political and economic problem. The Republic of Montenegro severed its economy from Serbia during the MILOSEVIC era; therefore, the formal separation of Serbia and Montenegro in June 2006 had little real impact on either economy. Kosovo's economy continues to transition to a market-based system and is largely dependent on the international community and the diaspora for financial and technical assistance. The euro and the Yugoslav dinar are both accepted currencies in Kosovo. While maintaining ultimate oversight, UNMIK continues to work with the EU and Kosovo's local provisional government to accelerate economic growth, lower unemployment, and attract foreign investment to help Kosovo integrate into regional economic structures. The complexity of Serbia and Kosovo's political and legal relationships has created uncertainty over property rights and hindered the privatization of state-owned assets in Kosovo. Most of Kosovo's population lives in rural towns outside of the largest city, Pristina. Inefficient, near-subsistence farming is common.
note: economic data for Serbia currently reflects information for the former Serbia and Montenegro, unless otherwise noted; data for Serbia alone will be added when available |
Electricity - consumption | 6.228 billion kWh (2002) | NA |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2002) | 12.05 billion kWh (excluding Kosovo; exported to Montenegro) (2004) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2002) | 11.23 billion kWh (excluding Kosovo; imports from Montenegro) (2004) |
Electricity - production | 6.697 billion kWh (2002) | 33.87 billion kWh (excluding Kosovo and Montenegro) (2004) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pidurutalagala 2,524 m |
lowest point: NA
highest point: Daravica 2,656 m |
Environment - current issues | 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 | air pollution around Belgrade and other industrial cities; water pollution from industrial wastes dumped into the Sava which flows into the Danube |
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, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation |
party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Ethnic groups | 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) | Serb 66%, Albanian 17%, Hungarian 3.5%, other 13.5% (1991) |
Exchange rates | Sri Lankan rupees per US dollar - 101.194 (2004), 96.521 (2003), 95.662 (2002), 89.383 (2001), 77.005 (2000) | new Yugoslav dinars per US dollar - 58.6925 (2005) |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA (since 12 November 1994); note - Mahinda RAJAPAKSE (since 6 April 2004) is the prime minister; the president is considered both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA (since 12 November 1994); note - Mahinda RAJAPAKSE is the prime minister (since 6 April 2004); the president is considered both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 21 December 1999 (next to be held NA December 2005) election results: Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA reelected president; percent of vote - Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA 51%, Ranil WICKREMASINGHE 42%, other 7% |
chief of state: President Boris TADIC (since 11 July 2004)
head of government: Prime Minister Vojislav KOSTUNICA (since 3 March 2004) cabinet: Federal Ministries act as cabinet elections: president elected by direct vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 27 June 2004 (next to be held June 2009); prime minister elected by the Assembly election results: Boris TADIC elected president in the second round of voting; Boris TADIC received 53% of the vote |
Exports | NA | 0 cu m |
Exports - commodities | textiles and apparel; tea and spices; diamonds, emeralds, rubies; coconut products; rubber manufactures, fish | manufactured goods, food and live animals, machinery and transport equipment |
Exports - partners | US 32.4%, UK 13.5%, India 6.8%, Germany 4.8% (2004) | - |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | 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 | three equal horizontal stripes of red (top), blue, and white; charged with the coat of arms of Serbia shifted slightly to the hoist side |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 19.1%
industry: 26.2% services: 54.7% (2004 est.) |
agriculture: 16.6%
industry: 25.5% services: 57.9% (2005 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $4,000 (2004 est.) | - |
GDP - real growth rate | 5.2% (2004 est.) | 5.9% for Serbia alone (excluding Kosovo) (2005 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 7 00 N, 81 00 E | 44 00 N, 21 00 E |
Geography - note | strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes | controls one of the major land routes from Western Europe to Turkey and the Near East |
Heliports | - | 4 (2006) |
Highways | total: 11,650 km
paved: 11,068 km unpaved: 582 km (2002) |
- |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.5%
highest 10%: 28% (1995) |
- |
Illicit drugs | - | transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin moving to Western Europe on the Balkan route; economy vulnerable to money laundering |
Imports | NA | 0 cu m |
Imports - commodities | textile fabrics, mineral products, petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and transportation equipment | - |
Imports - partners | India 18%, Singapore 8.7%, Hong Kong 7.7%, China 5.7%, Iran 5.2%, Japan 5.1%, Malaysia 4.1% (2004) | - |
Independence | 4 February 1948 (from UK) | 5 June 2006 (from Serbia and Montenegro) |
Industrial production growth rate | 7.1% (2004 est.) | 1.4% (2006 est.) |
Industries | rubber processing, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; telecommunications, insurance, and banking; clothing, cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco | sugar, agricultural machinery, electrical and communication equipment, paper and pulp, lead, transportation equipment |
Infant mortality rate | total: 14.35 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 15.57 deaths/1,000 live births female: 13.07 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
- |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 5.8% (2004 est.) | 15.5% (2005 est.) |
International organization participation | AsDB, 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, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), ONUB, OPCW, PCA, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO | ABEDA, BIS, BSEC, CE, CEI, EBRD, FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD (suspended), IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, SECI, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNOCI, UPU, WCL, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO (observer) |
Irrigated land | 6,510 sq km (1998 est.) | NA |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court; Court of Appeals; judges for both courts are appointed by the president | Constitutional Court (nine justices with life tenure) |
Labor force | 7.26 million (2004 est.) | 2.961 million for Serbia (including Kosovo) (2002 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 38%, industry 17%, services 45% (1998 est.) | agriculture: 30%
industry: 46% services: 24% note: excluding Kosovo and Montenegro (2002) |
Land boundaries | 0 km | total: 2,027 km
border countries: Albania 115 km, Bosnia and Herzegovina 302 km, Bulgaria 318 km, Croatia 241 km, Hungary 151 km, Macedonia 221 km, Montenegro 203 km, Romania 476 km |
Land use | arable land: 13.86%
permanent crops: 15.7% other: 70.44% (2001) |
arable land: NA
permanent crops: NA other: NA |
Languages | 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 |
Serbian (official nationwide); Romanian, Hungarian, Slovak, Ukrainian, and Croatian (all official in Vojvodina); Albanian (official in Kosovo) |
Legal system | a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, Sinhalese, and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | based on civil law system |
Legislative branch | 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 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 or electoral alliance - SLFP and JVP 105, UNP 82, TNA 22, JHU 9, SLMC 5, UPF 1, EPDP 1 |
unicameral National Assembly (250 deputies elected by direct vote for a four-year term)
elections: last held 28 December 2003 (next to be held December 2007) election results: SRS 83, DSS 53, DS 37, G17 Plus 34, SPO-NS 22, SPS 22 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 73.17 years
male: 70.6 years female: 75.86 years (2005 est.) |
total population: 74 years
male: 71 years female: 76 years |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 92.3% male: 94.8% female: 90% (2003 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 96.4% male: 98.9% female: 94.1% (2002 est.) |
Location | Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India | Southeastern Europe, between Macedonia and Hungary |
Map references | Asia | Europe |
Maritime claims | 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 |
none (landlocked) |
Merchant marine | total: 23 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 120,924 GRT/173,604 DWT
by type: cargo 18, container 2, passenger 1, petroleum tanker 2 foreign-owned: 10 (Germany 10) registered in other countries: 1 (2005) |
note: see entry for Montenegro |
Military branches | Army, Navy, Air Force, Police Force | Serbian Armed Forces (Vojska Srbije, VS): Serbian Land Forces (Kopnene Vojska, KoV), Air Force and Air Defense Force (Vozduhoplostvo i Protivozduhoplovna Odbrana, ViPO), naval force to be determined (2006) |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $514.8 million (2004) | $14.85 million |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.6% (2004) | - |
National holiday | Independence Day, 4 February (1948) | National Day, 27 April |
Nationality | noun: Sri Lankan(s)
adjective: Sri Lankan |
noun: Serb(s)
adjective: Serbian |
Natural hazards | occasional cyclones and tornadoes | destructive earthquakes |
Natural resources | limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates, clay, hydropower | oil, gas, coal, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, antimony, chromite, nickel, gold, silver, magnesium, pyrite, limestone, marble, salt, arable land |
Net migration rate | -1.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Pipelines | - | gas 3,177 km; oil 393 km (2006) |
Political parties and leaders | 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 [Tilvan SILVA]; National Heritage Party or JHU [Tilak KARUNARATNE]; National Unity Alliance or NUA [Ferial ASHRAFF]; People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [leader NA]; Sihala Urumaya or SU [leader NA]; 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 | Democratic Party of Serbia or DSS [Vojislav KOSTUNICA]; Democratic Party or DS [Boris TADIC]; G17 Plus [Mladjan DINKIC is acting leader]; Serbian Radical Party or SRS [Vojislav SESELJ, but Tomislav NIKOLIC is acting leader]; Socialist Party of Serbia or SPS [vacant, but Ivica DACIC is head of the SPS Main Board]; New Serbia or NS [Velimir ILIC]; Serbian Renewal Movement or SPO [Vuk DRASKOVIC] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | 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 | 20,064,776
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 2005 est.) |
9,396,411 (2002 census) |
Population below poverty line | 22% (1997 est.) | 30%
note: data covers the former Serbia and Montenegro (1999 est.) |
Population growth rate | 0.79% (2005 est.) | - |
Ports and harbors | Colombo, Galle | - |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 26, FM 45, shortwave 1 (1998) | 153 (2001) |
Railways | total: 1,449 km
broad gauge: 1,449 km 1.676-m gauge (2004) |
total: 4,135 km
standard guage: 4,135 km 1.435-m guage (electrified 1,195 km) (2005) |
Religions | Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data) | Serbian Orthodox, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Protestant |
Sex ratio | 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: 0.87 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
- |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 universal |
Telephone system | 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 at 2.6 main lines per 100 persons (1999) international: country code - 94; submarine cables to Indonesia and Djibouti; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) (1999) |
general assessment: modernization of the telecommunications network has been slow as a result of damage stemming from the 1999 war and transition to a competitive market-based system; network was only 65% digitalized in 2005
domestic: teledensity remains below the average for neighboring states; GSM wireless service, available through two providers with national coverage, is growing very rapidly; best telecommunications service limited to urban centers international: country code - 381 |
Telephones - main lines in use | 881,400 (2002) | 2,685,400 (2004) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 931,600 (2002) | 5.229 million (2005) |
Television broadcast stations | 21 (1997) | - |
Terrain | mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior | extremely varied; to the north, rich fertile plains; to the east, limestone ranges and basins; to the southeast, ancient mountains and hills |
Total fertility rate | 1.85 children born/woman (2005 est.) | 1.78 children born/woman (2006 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 7.8% (2004 est.) | 31.6%
note: unemployment is approximately 50% in Kosovo (2005 est.) |
Waterways | 160 km (primarily on rivers in southwest) (2004) | 587 km - primarily on Danube and Sava rivers (2005) |