Sri Lanka
ශ්රී ලංකාව
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Did you know
On 21 July 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world's first female head of government. (source)
Elders in numbers
- of people are 65 or older
- 12.5%
- people aged 65 or older
- 2.7M
- will be 65 or older in 2050
- 20.3%
- is how long people live after 60, on average
- 20.3 years
Sources: World Bank, 2025; World Bank projection for 2050; WHO, 2023
Languages
5 languages, 3 of them endangered
- Sri Lankan Portuguese CreoleCritically endangered
- Sri Lanka MalayDefinitely endangered
- Sri Lankan Sign LanguageVulnerable
- Sinhala
- Tamil
Languages and their status: Glottolog v5.3, CC BY 4.0. Names: Wikidata.
UNESCO intangible heritage
- Kithul Madeema/Kithul Kapeema, an ancient indigenous technology for tapping Kithul in Sri Lanka2025
- Traditional craftsmanship of making Dumbara Ratā Kalāla2021
- Rūkada Nātya, traditional string puppet drama in Sri Lanka2018
List and years: ich.unesco.org
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