33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

SRI LANKA GEOGRAPHY: Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon), is an island country lying in the Indian Ocean and separated from peninsular India by the Palk Strait. It is located between latitudes 5°55′ and 9°51′ N and longitudes 79°41′ and 81°53′ E and has a maximum length of 268 miles (432 km) and a maximum width of 139 miles (224 km) 1 . ©Encyclopaedia Britannica CAPITALS: Colombo; Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte POPULATION: 20,950,041. Sri Lanka ranks number 58 in the list of countries by population 2 . LANGUAGE: Sri Lanka has two official languages; 74 % of the population speaks Sinhala (typically spoken by the Sinhalese), and 18% of the population speaks Tamil (spoken by the Tamils). English is spoken competently by around 10% of the population. It is used in government and is referred to as the link language in the constitution 3 . 1 https://www.britannica.com/place/Sri-Lanka#toc561906main 2 http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/sri-lanka-population/ A ccurate as of 9 th January 2018 3 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ce.html