People
Sri Lanka is known as "The nation of smiling people". It is popular for its people who always welcome you with a “smile”. Any Sri Lankan will greet you with a gentle and genuine smile wherever you meet them.
Twenty million smiles of this beautiful island comprised of the three main Ethnic groups, which are Sinhalese (74.9%), Sri Lankan Tamils (11.2%) and Muslims (9.2%). Other minorities include the Malays who descent from South East Asian settlers, Indian Tamils, the Burghers, who are descendents of European colonists, principally from Portugal, The Netherlands and UK and Veddha (indigenous people). Religiously there are four main religions followed by Sri Lankan’s; Buddhism (73%), Hinduism (15%) and Islam (9%) and Christianity (3%).
Sinhala (also called Sinhalese or Singhalese) is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese ethnic group which is the largest in Sri Lanka. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages.
Sinhala is spoken by about 16 million people in Sri Lanka, about 13 million of whom are native speakers. It is one of the constitutionally-recognized official languages of Sri Lanka, along with Tamil. Tamil is a classical language and the oldest of the Dravidian language family and spoken by the Tamil population of Sri Lanka. It is also spoken by Tamils in India, Malaysia and Singapore. As of 1996, it was the eighteenth most spoken language, with over 74 million speakers worldwide.
People of Sri Lanka benefited through free health and education system, which reflects the high literacy rate in Sri Lanka (which is 91%) and life expectancy at birth, 76 years.
Nearly 80% of the population lives in rural areas and majority of the rural population depend on agriculture and fisheries.
Twenty million smiles of this beautiful island comprised of the three main Ethnic groups, which are Sinhalese (74.9%), Sri Lankan Tamils (11.2%) and Muslims (9.2%). Other minorities include the Malays who descent from South East Asian settlers, Indian Tamils, the Burghers, who are descendents of European colonists, principally from Portugal, The Netherlands and UK and Veddha (indigenous people). Religiously there are four main religions followed by Sri Lankan’s; Buddhism (73%), Hinduism (15%) and Islam (9%) and Christianity (3%).
Sinhala (also called Sinhalese or Singhalese) is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese ethnic group which is the largest in Sri Lanka. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages.
Sinhala is spoken by about 16 million people in Sri Lanka, about 13 million of whom are native speakers. It is one of the constitutionally-recognized official languages of Sri Lanka, along with Tamil. Tamil is a classical language and the oldest of the Dravidian language family and spoken by the Tamil population of Sri Lanka. It is also spoken by Tamils in India, Malaysia and Singapore. As of 1996, it was the eighteenth most spoken language, with over 74 million speakers worldwide.
People of Sri Lanka benefited through free health and education system, which reflects the high literacy rate in Sri Lanka (which is 91%) and life expectancy at birth, 76 years.
Nearly 80% of the population lives in rural areas and majority of the rural population depend on agriculture and fisheries.