Sri Lanka 🇱🇰

Sri Lanka is a country in Asia with a population of 21,832,143. Its capital is Colombo. The official currency is LKR, and the main languages are Sinhala, Tamil.

Quick facts

Capital: Colombo
Continent: Asia
Population: 21,832,143
Area: 65,610 km²
Density: 333 people per km²
Currency: LKR
Languages: Sinhala, Tamil
ISO code: LK

Where Sri Lanka sits

Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 is one of 48 countries in Asia, with its capital at Colombo. It covers 65,610 square kilometres — 120th in the world — and is home to about 21,832,143 people, 61st globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Sri Lanka compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Sri Lanka sits closest to Syria and Mali. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Lithuania and Latvia.

At 333 people per square kilometre it is about 5.6 times the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

Sinhala is listed as official in Sri Lanka alone. The LKR is used by Sri Lanka and no one else.

To see Sri Lanka next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has two capitals. Colombo, the largest city, is the executive and judicial capital, while its neighbour Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital. Our quizzes use Colombo. For the flag, look for the lion with a sword.

The flag of Sri Lanka: maroon, gold, green and orange

🇱🇰 The flag is a gold border around two panels: on the left, a green and an orange vertical stripe; on the right, a gold lion holding a sword on a maroon field, with a gold bo leaf in each corner. The lion stands for bravery and the strength of the nation, and the sword for sovereignty. The four bo leaves stand for Buddhism and the four virtues of kindness, friendliness, happiness and equanimity. The orange and green stripes stand for the Tamil and Moor communities, and maroon for the Sinhalese majority.

Region and neighbours

Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, in the Indian Ocean, separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. As an island country it has no land neighbours.

Three facts about Sri Lanka

In 1960 Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister of Sri Lanka, the world's first elected female head of government.
Sri Lanka became independent in 1948 as the Dominion of Ceylon, and became a republic in 1972.
Sigiriya, an ancient fortress on top of a huge rock, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sources: Wikipedia: Sri Lanka, Wikipedia: Flag of Sri Lanka, Wikipedia: Colombo, Wikipedia: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Wikipedia: Sigiriya, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Sri Lanka

Asian capitals quiz — match Sri Lanka to Colombo
Asian flags quiz — spot the Sri Lanka flag among its neighbours
Island nations quiz — Sri Lanka is an island country

Quizzes that include Sri Lanka

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Sri Lanka those are:

Asia map quiz — place it on a blank map
Asia flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
Asia capitals quiz — match it to Colombo
Sri Lanka capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Sri Lanka
Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Nearby countries

Afghanistan 🇦🇫 — capital Kabul
Armenia 🇦🇲 — capital Yerevan
Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 — capital Baku
Bahrain 🇧🇭 — capital Manama
Bangladesh 🇧🇩 — capital Dhaka
Bhutan 🇧🇹 — capital Thimphu
Brunei 🇧🇳 — capital Bandar Seri Begawan
Cambodia 🇰🇭 — capital Phnom Penh
China 🇨🇳 — capital Beijing
Georgia 🇬🇪 — capital Tbilisi
India 🇮🇳 — capital New Delhi
Indonesia 🇮🇩 — capital Jakarta

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Sri Lanka flag?

The flag of Sri Lanka is a gold border around two panels: on the left, a green and an orange vertical stripe; on the right, a gold lion holding a sword on a maroon field, with a gold bo leaf in each corner. The lion stands for bravery and the strength of the nation, and the sword for sovereignty. The four bo leaves stand for Buddhism and the four virtues of kindness, friendliness, happiness and equanimity. The orange and green stripes stand for the Tamil and Moor communities, and maroon for the Sinhalese majority.

Which countries border Sri Lanka?

None. Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, in the Indian Ocean, separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, so it has no land borders with other countries.