Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

Capital

Currency

International telephone access code

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

Internet country code

GRC Country Code

   Note: This section last updated 15th June 2021

   1,234.45

(where . indicates the decimal separator and , the thousands separator)

   Note: This section last updated 15th June 2021

In Sinhala:

   yyyy-mm-dd

   14:32

In Tamil:

   dd/mm/yyyy

   14:32

The official languages are Sinhala (13 190 000 speakers) and Tamil (3 000 000 speakers). There are 5 other languages: English (97 000 speakers); Indo-Portuguese (2 250 speakers); Pali ; Sri Lankan Creole Malay (50 000 speakers) and Veddah (300 speakers).

Regardless of the ethnic community, family names are usually written last in a name string. Many people have an ancestral name which is written first but which is usually abbreviated. In the following example, the form is ancestral name + given name + family name:

   Presteruweliyanaralage Evans Corray

Sinhalese clan names end in -ge.

Women usually take their husband’s surname upon marriage but retain their ancestral name. Children typically take their father’s ancestral- and surname.

Tamils traditionally have no family name and the father’s name may be added as an initial before their own personal name.

Sri Lankans often have long strings of given names, often written as initials. For example:

   Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanga Welegedara (Chanaka Welegedara, UWMBCA Welegedara)
   Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene (Mahela Jayawardene, DPMS Jayawardene)
   Hewasandatchige Asiri Prasanna Wishvanath Jayawardene (Prasanna Jayawardene, HAPW Jayawardene)
   Hettige Don Rumesh Lahiru Thirimanne (Lehiru Thirimanne, HDRL Thirimanne)

   Tables of names can be acquired: given names , surnames/family names , family name prefixes , forms of address , job titles 

Address formats in Sri Lanka are flexible in terms of format. Here are some examples:

Addresses written in a non-native language will be written in English.

Colombo has 15 postal zones, and a sorting code number may be found written after the town name which indicates the postal district in this way:

   Colombo 12

However, this number is included as the 2^nd and 3^rd numbers of the postal code (e.g. 01200), and need therefore not be written after the city name if the postal code is used.

Trilingual street name board in Kandy

   A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired 

This is written PO Box.

Sri Lankan Postal Codes consist of a block of 5 digits. The first one indicates the province or the city of Colombo, the second the postal division and the rest the post office. It is written on its own on the last line of the address block.

   Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired 

Sri Lanka - Postal code format graphic

Sri Lanka - Postal code format

Sri Lanka - Postal code specifics

Sri Lanka - Postal code regular expression

Sri Lanka - Postal code level of coverage

Sri Lanka - Postal code map

   Note: This section last updated 31st July 2017

Refer to Exonyms in Sri Lanka for full lists of place names in Sri Lanka in other languages.

   Alternate place name forms/postal code tables can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/settlements.htm 

   Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm 

   Note: This section last updated 24th January 2012

Sri Lanka has 8 provinces , not used in addresses. These are:

    Central 
    Eastern 
    North Central 
    Northern 
    North Western 
    Sabaragamuwa 
    Southern 
    Uva 
    Western 

Administrative districts graphic

Sri Lankan numbers have area codes of 2 digits when called from abroad, and subscriber numbers of 7 digits. Mobile numbers have one of these area codes: 71-72, 75, 77-78.