Sri Lanka’s population stands at 2,17,63,170 according to the 2024 census released on Monday (April 7, 2025).
This represents an increase of 14,03,731 from the last census of 2012, the Census and Statistics Department said.
The Western province has the highest percentage with 28.1 of the population while the Northern with 5.3 remains the lowest among the nine provinces.
The Western province’s Gampaha with 24,33,685 is the most populous out of the 25 administrative districts. The capital city district of Colombo with 23,74,461 is in the second place.
Five more districts have recorded over one million population led by the Northwestern capital Kurunegala with 17,60,829 people.
The Central province capital district of Kandy with 14,61,269 people is in the second place.
The Northern district of Mullaithivu has the lowest number with 1,22,542 people.
Sri Lanka’s first census was carried out in 1871 and the result was 24,00,380 people.
A century later in 1971, the total population was 1,26,89,897 people.
The highest annual growth rate recorded came in 1953 with 2.8 per cent.
In the 2024 census, the annual growth rate had dropped to 0.5 per cent from being 0.7 per cent in 2012, the department said.
Published – April 08, 2025 04:56 am IST
