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  • Title: Sri Lanka.
    Author: United States. Department of State. Bureau of Public Affairs.
    Journal: Backgr Notes Ser; 1985 Dec; ():1-8. PubMed ID: 12178124.
    Abstract:
    This discussion of Sri Lanka covers the following: geography; people; history and political conditions; governent; the economy; defense; foreign relations; and relations between Sri Lanka and the US. The population of Sri Lanka totaled 16.3 million in 1985 with an annual growth rate of 1.8%. In 1984, the infant mortality rate was 31/1000 with life expectancy 68.9 years. Sri Lanka is a pear-shaped island in the Indian Ocean. It is southeast of India, from which it is separated at the closest point by only 29 kilometers. About 50% of the population live in the southwest quarter of the island, where agricultural conditions are most favorable. About 74% of the population are Sinhalese, and 18% are Tamil, people of South Indian origin. Minorities include the Muslims, 7% of the population; the Burghers, descendants of Dutch, Portuguese, and British colonists; Eurasians and Malays; and the Veddahs, the aborigines of the island. On February 4, 1948, Ceylon became a fully independent member of the British Commonwealth. The Sri Lankan electoral system, in effect since 1948, resulted in wide swings in composition of Parliament. The constitution that came into effect on September 7, 1978, changed the name of the country to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. It vested executive power in a president to be elected directly by the people, legislative power in the Parliament and in the people by referendum, and judicial power in Parliament through the courts. Sri Lanka's most difficult domestic problem, inherited by the United National Party (UNP) from its predecessor governments, is posed by the grievances and aspirations of the minority Tamil community. Plantation agriculture continues to be important in Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka is predominantly an agricultural and trading nation. Efforts are being made to expand the agricultural base and to diversity into light industryk tourism, and other nontraditional industries, with emphasis on the export sector. In 1985, Sri Lanka continues in the midst of an ambitious development program which, in conjuction with the high growth, market oriented policies begun 8 years ago, has begun to revitalize the economy. Sri Lanka follows a nonaligned foreign policy. The US and Sri Lanka enjoy cordial relations and the US continues to urge the government of Sri Lanka to seek to resolve the country's communal animosities through political means.
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