Demographic profile
Sri Lanka is the 62nd most populous of the 238 countries and territories tracked on this site, home to about 0.27% of everyone alive. Within Southern Asia, it ranks 1 of 1.
Each day brings roughly 848 births and 461 deaths, adding about 141,348 people over a year. At the current natural-increase rate of 0.62% annually, the population would double in roughly 113 years if the rate held. Real trajectories bend as fertility, mortality and migration shift, which is why the chart below shows both history and projection.
Among its first-level divisions, the largest by our modelled allocation is Eastern, holding an estimated 30.8% of the national population. The full breakdown of all 9 states and regions is in the table below — regional figures outside Sudan are modelled estimates built on real region names, and are flagged as such.
Literacy stands near 92.4% and adult smoking prevalence around 22.0%, with life expectancy at about 75.5 years. Baselines come from UN World Population Prospects, the World Bank, WHO surveys, WorldPop and HDX; the counters project them forward in real time — the method, and every caveat, is documented on our data sources page.
Quick answers
What is the population of Sri Lanka in 2026? Approximately 22,782,956 people (live projection; the counter above updates every second).
How fast is Sri Lanka growing? About 0.62% per year — roughly 848 births and 461 deaths every day.
What share of the world lives in Sri Lanka? Around 0.27% — ranked 62 worldwide by population.