Sri Lanka to hold full nationwide census this year

Sri Lanka will conduct its 14th comprehensive census on population this year covering the entire country after achieving peace in 2009, the Department of Census and Statistics said.

The census in the North and East is to be conducted after a lapse of 30 years. The mapping of the North and East is to be completed before March.

The census is conducted every ten years since 1871 with some exceptions. The last census was carried out only in 18 out of 25 districts due to the conflict in the Northern and Eastern provinces. The 13th census of the series was conducted on the 17th of July 2001.

The 1991 and 2001 census were not held in the parts of the Northern Province that were under heavy influence of Tamil Tiger rebels that were fighting for a separate state until they were crushed last year.

According to the Department of Census and Statistics, census, to be carried out in the third-quarter of this year will be conducted in three parts of demarcating the district and divisional boundaries followed by buildings survey.

The Director General of the Census and Statistics Department says that around 1.4 billion rupees are expected to be spent on the census, which is to be conducted using latest technology.

Sri Lanka expects its population to grow by about 222,000 every year to an optimum of about 24 million by 2041. Sri Lanka's current population is 20.6 million.