parliamentary democracy (since March 1993) that retains as its chiefs of state a coprincipality; the two princes are the president of France and bishop of Seo de Urgel, Spain, who are represented locally by coprinces' representatives
Independence date
4 February 1948 (from UK)
Religions
Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data)
Roman Catholic (predominant)
Languages
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
Catalan (official), French, Castilian, Portuguese
Exports
textiles and apparel, tea and spices; diamonds, emeralds, rubies; coconut products, rubber manufactures, fish
External Debt
$22,820,000,000 $
Exchange Rate
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
2.900%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India
Southwestern Europe, between France and Spain
Area
65,610 km sq
468 km sq
Coastline
1,340 km
0 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October)
temperate; snowy, cold winters and warm, dry summers
