Demographics
In the early 19th century, Sri Lanka's population was approximately 2.8 million, concentrated mainly in the southwestern part of the island and in the Jaffna peninsula. Today, the country's population is 21.5 million, with over 18% living in urban areas. A large part of the population is still clustered around Colombo, in the southwest of the island and in the Jaffna peninsula. The average life expectancy is 77.7 years and the average age of a Sri Lankan citizen is 33.7 years. The birth rate is 1.4%, and infant mortality is still high, at 8.36 deaths per 1,000 births. The working population is estimated at about 8 million. More than 5 million Sri Lankans are under 14 years of age, representing nearly 25% of the island's population. Of concern is the fact that the percentage of people over 65 years of age is over 12%, the highest of any country in South Asia. Moreover, this rate is increasing year after year and is expected to represent 21% of the total population by 2030! Today, the government is struggling to draw up an effective policy to accompany the country's demographic changes.
The different ethnic groups
Sinhalese. The Sinhalese, also spelled Sinhalese or Sinhalese, constitute 75% of the island's inhabitants. According to the Mahavamsa, they are the descendants of the exiled Indian prince Vijaya and his group of seven hundred subjects who arrived on the island from Bengal in 543 BC. Genetic analysis confirms that the Sinhalese people, also called the Hela people, are close to the populations of northeast India. Similarly, the Sinhalese language is classified as an Indo-Aryan language, while Tamil is a Dravidian language originating from South India, which tends to confirm this theory. The vast majority of Sinhalese are Buddhist, however there are a small number of Catholics, especially in the Negombo area. Theravada Buddhism is one of the major elements welding the Sinhalese identity: this common faith makes it possible to fill the gap existing between the various socio-cultural circles, or to attenuate the rivalry born in the 19th century between the inhabitants of the Lowlands and those of Kandy. A common language, Sinhala, is another factor of unity of this community. Ancient writings, such as the Mahavamsa, assert that the Sinhalese have a mission to preserve and protect Buddhism. Many Sinhalese take pride in the fact that their ancestors resisted the expansion of Indian kingdoms, as well as European settlers and their desire to convert them to Christianity. This notion of a people dedicated to the protection of Buddha's teachings is now used by some progressive Sinhala Buddhist politicians and monks to legitimize radical stances towards Tamil and Muslim communities.
Tamils. Just under 15.3 percent of the population are Tamils, of whom 11.1 percent are of Sri Lankan origin and 4.2 percent are of Indian origin. The indigenous Tamils, also known as Ealam Tamils or Ceylon Tamils, are descendants of the ancient kingdom of Jaffna. They are mainly settled in the northern peninsula, in the northwest and in the east of the island. The Indian Tamils are more concentrated in the mountainous regions of the center of the island. They are the descendants of workers brought by the British from Tamil Nadu, a state in southeastern India, to provide labor for the tea plantations in the early 19th century. The country's Tamil population is predominantly Hindu, but also includes Catholic and Protestant Christians as well as Muslims. Some Hindu Tamils have converted to another religion to escape the caste system. These religious differences, added to the fact that the Sri Lankan Tamil high castes of Jaffna despise the Indian working castes of the Highlands, constitute an obstacle to the unification of the Tamil community of the island. The Indian Tamils are careful not to participate in the independence demands of the Sri Lankan Tamils. The civil war led about 800,000 Tamils to leave the country to flee persecution and to immigrate abroad (to India, the United States, Canada, England, etc.). This discrimination against them has led many of them to claim their Tamil identity to the detriment of their Sri Lankan nationality. Many still support, mostly in silence, the idea of the creation of an autonomous Tamil state in the northeast of the island: Tamil Ealam.
Moors. The Moors of Sri Lanka constitute 9.3% of the population. They are the descendants of Arab merchants who came to trade on the island and of Marrakesh immigrants from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The majority are Sunni Muslims. Their language is Tamil and many of them also speak Sinhalese. The name "Moor" appeared only when the Portuguese settlers arrived on the island and used the term " Mouros" to refer to them, more for their faith in Islam than for their ethnic origin. They were severely persecuted by the LTTE during the civil war, which expelled them from the Northern Province and confiscated their land and property during the "ethnic cleansing" of October 1990. Today, their population is concentrated in the central part of the country and on the east coast, particularly in the districts of Trincomalee and Batticaloa. Jihadist attacks on Catholic churches and luxury hotels on the island on April 21, 2019, have reignited tensions with other communities.
Malays. The first Malays settled on the island at a time when Indonesia, then a Dutch colony, was engaged in trade with Ceylon. In the south of the country, especially around Galle, Hambantota and Beruwela, a small community of Muslim Malays of about 40,000 people remains. They continue to speak Malay to preserve their identity, but also speak Sinhalese or Tamil depending on where they live. They are assimilated by the other communities to Muslims, not according to their ethnic origin.
Burghers. These are the mixed-race descendants of Portuguese, Dutch and British settlers who have formed families with women from Ceylon. Officially, a Burgher is a person whose father was born in Ceylon and who has at least one European ancestor in his direct paternal lineage, regardless of the ethnic origin of the mother. The Burghers, who are mainly settled in Colombo and the northeast of the island, constitute today a small community representing only 0.2% of the population. Despite their diverse origins, they have often adopted English as their primary language. They held important positions in the political and financial spheres of the country after the departure of the British, in part because of their education and the privileges they were granted. Many left the island to settle abroad after Sinhala became the official language of the country in 1956. Their heritage is still present in Sri Lankan culture, notably in gastronomy ( lamprais of Dutch origin, certain cakes such as bolo folhado of Portuguese origin), and crafts (lace making).
Veddas. The Veddas, or Veddahs, are an indigenous people whose presence on the island predates that of the Sinhalese and Tamils, and dates back more than 35,000 years. Little is known about the history of this community. The Wanniyala-Aetto, as they are also called, have physical similarities with the aborigines of southern India and have a different genetic makeup from the other inhabitants of the island. They are a hunter-gatherer people who lived nomadically in the forests, hunting game, collecting fruit, nuts and berries, and cultivating small plots of land for food. They dressed in a simple piece of cloth and lived in communion with nature. Their main religion is animism and they worship their deceased ancestors who can communicate with them through a shaman. Massive deforestation in the 1950s endangered their habitat and their population. In 1983, they were relocated by the government to Madura Oya National Park and forced to settle there, with a strict ban on returning to the forest to live or hunt. Similar to indigenous peoples on other continents, the fate of this nomadic people, who are "parked" in reserves, is quite grim. Distanced from their natural way of life, they are exposed to poverty, depression, alcoholism..
Today their population is estimated at about 2,500 individuals. They are in the process of assimilation into Sri Lankan society and their culture tends to disappear. The Vedda language is becoming extinct, even if some elders still speak it, especially in Dambana, which is to some extent the "Vedda capital" of the island. Younger generations of Veddas living in the southeast of the island and in the Anuradhapura district now speak Sinhala, and those on the east coast speak Tamil. Many have converted to Buddhism or Hinduism to facilitate their integration into Sri Lankan society. Like the country's Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims, they worship at the sacred temple of Kataragama, a true symbol of the island's religious syncretism.
