What is the population of Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka has 21.8 million people (2025). The population grew from 9.7 million in 1960 to a peak of 22.2 million in 2022 and has since fallen to 21.8 million.
Population by decade
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1960 | 9,661,389 |
| 1970 | 12,287,110 |
| 1980 | 14,847,974 |
| 1990 | 16,352,458 |
| 2000 | 19,293,054 |
| 2010 | 20,879,089 |
| 2020 | 21,919,000 |
| 2025 | 21,756,000 |
What is the capital of Sri Lanka?
The capital of Sri Lanka is Colombo.
What currency does Sri Lanka use?
Sri Lanka uses the Sri Lankan rupee (LKR).
What languages are spoken in Sri Lanka?
The official languages of Sri Lanka are Sinhala and Tamil.
Where is Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka is in Asia.
Location on the map
Neighboring countries
This country has no land borders.
How big is Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka covers 65,610 km² (25,332 sq mi). The United States is about 150 times as large.
Economy of Sri Lanka
- Gross domestic product (GDP)
- $109 billion
- GDP per person
- $5,002
- Life expectancy
- 77.7 years
Data: World Bank (GDP 2025, GDP per person 2025, life expectancy 2024)
Economic development
Based on economic indicators, Sri Lanka is classified as upper middle income. Upper-middle-income countries have a gross national income per person between $4,516 and $14,005.
Related countries
Where does Sri Lanka rank?
Sri Lanka is in the top 50 on one of our six rankings: