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Sri Lanka — Population
Population, Total for Sri Lanka, 1960–2025.
Latest value · 2025
21.76 million
Population, Total · people · +125.2% since 1960
Population for Sri Lanka was 21.76 million in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 66 years, from 1960 to 2025. The highest recorded value was 22.18 million in 2022. The lowest was 9.66 million in 1960 (about 2.3× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 1.26% per year.
Sri Lanka ranks 62 of 217 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 29%. The median for South Asia is 29.62 million, so Sri Lanka sits below it. It peaked in 2022 and has fallen 2% since. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved up 4%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
21.76 million
First (1960)
9.66 million
Change
+125.2%
Highest
22.18 million
in 2022
Lowest
9.66 million
in 1960
Average
16.94 million
Annual growth (CAGR)
1.26%
Years of data
66
Recent years
| Year | people |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 21,756,000 |
| 2024 | 21,916,000 |
| 2023 | 22,037,000 |
| 2022 | 22,181,000 |
| 2021 | 22,156,000 |
| 2020 | 21,919,000 |
| 2019 | 21,803,000 |
| 2018 | 21,670,000 |
| 2017 | 21,453,000 |
| 2016 | 21,209,000 |
| 2015 | 20,970,000 |
| 2014 | 20,778,000 |
Reading this correctly. Total population based on the de facto definition, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. Figures are in people. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
SP.POP.TOTL — Population, Total. Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.