Country
Colombia Sri Lanka
Leader
Population
45,239,079 21,481,334
Life Expectancy
74.790 years 75.940 years
Capital City
Bogota Colombo
Largest city
Bogota (population: 7,102,600) Colombo (population: 648,034)
Human Development Index
0.787 0.742 GDP per capita $10,400 US $5,700 US
Literacy Rate
92.8% 90.7%
Corruption Perception Index
3.8 3.2
Percentage of Women in Parliament
9.7% 5.8% Wealthiest Citizens Julio Mario Santo Domingo ($4.0bn US) NA Unemployment Rate 10.800% 4.200%
Death Penalty
Abolished Abolished in practice
Political System
republic; executive branch dominates government structure republic
Independence date
20 July 1810 (from Spain) 4 February 1948 (from UK) Religions Roman Catholic 90%, other 10% Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data) Languages Spanish 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 Exports petroleum, coffee, coal, nickel, emeralds, apparel, bananas, cut flowers textiles and apparel, tea and spices; diamonds, emeralds, rubies; coconut products, rubber manufactures, fish External Debt $68,760,000,000 $ $22,810,000,000 US Exchange Rate Colombian pesos (COP) per US dollar - 2,302.9 (2008 est.), 2,013.8 (2007), 2,358.6 (2006), 2,320.75 (2005), 2,628.61 (2004) Sri Lankan rupees (LKR) per US dollar - 108.33 (2008), 110.78 (2007), 103.99 (2006), 100.498 (2005), 101.194 (2004) Military Budget as percentage of GDP 3.400% 2.600% Beijing Olympics Medal Count 2 0 Location Northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Panama and Venezuela, and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Ecuador and Panama Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India Area 1,138,910 km sq 65,610 km sq Coastline 3,208 km 1,340 km Climate tropical along coast and eastern plains; cooler in highlands tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October)
