COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
Country of Origin Information Service
UK Border Agency
27 September 2011
Dear colleague,
Re: Sri Lanka – Ethnic Groups, Religion and Language
The last full census completed by the Government of Sri Lanka was in 1981. Although a census
was carried out in 2001, because part of the island was under LTTE control, it included only 18
of the 25 districts, excluding Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya from Northern
Province and Trincomalee and Batticaloa from Eastern Province. See:
http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/PDF/Population/p9p8%20Ethnicity.pdf . The
Government of Sri Lanka are currently undertaking the 2011 census.
According to the 1981 census Sri Lanka is made up of three main ethnic groups. Sinhalese
being the largest group and making up almost 74% of the population. The second largest group
are Tamils who account for around 18% of the population, although they can subsequently split
into two distinct groups of Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils. The third largest group are
Muslims who make up around 7% of the population. The origins of each of the ethnic groups
are further explained at: http://countrystudies.us/sri-lanka/38.htm . Sri Lanka is unique in that
Muslims are considered an ethnic group as well as a religious group, although you often see
people referred to as Ceylonese Moors or Sri Lankan Moors on government issued documents,
such as birth certificates.
The 1981 census also recorded that there are four main religions in Sri Lanka. Buddhism is by
far the largest with 69% of the population, followed by Hindus at 15%, Muslim at 8% and
Christians also at 8%. The Christian figure mainly consists of persons who are of Sinhalese or
Tamil ethnicity and a vast majority of these people reside on the west coast of Sri Lanka.
There are the two national and official languages in Sri Lanka, Sinhala which is spoken by 74%
of the population and Tamil which is spoken by 18% of the population. English is commonly
used in government and business, and is spoken competently by around 40% of the population.
Tamil is mainly spoken in Northern and Eastern Provinces, and in the Hill Country amongst
Indian Tamils working on the tea plantations. Persons of all ethnic backgrounds in these areas
may use Tamil as their first language.
Although much of the world focuses its attention on conflict between Sinhalese and Tamil
groups in Sri Lanka, the relationship between Tamils and Muslims, especially in the north of the
country, fluctuated greatly during the war (see: http://groundviews.org/2011/06/21/21-years-ofhopeless-existence/
274 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.