State of the environment, environmental challenges and governance in Sri Lanka

The population of Sri Lanka in 2010 was 20.65 million and the natural increase in population is estimated at 1.1 per cent annually. Sri Lanka is one of the most densely populated countries in Asia. Population density per square km rose from 54 people in 1900 to 139 people in 1956 and to 329 people in 2010. The wet zone, occupying just 24 per cent of the country, is under great pressure, because

it is settled by 55 per cent of the island’s population. Thus, population density in the wet zone is much higher (650 people per square km) as compared to the dry zone (175 people per square km). Over 72 per cent of the country’s population lives in rural areas, while less than 22 percent of the population is in the urban areas and 6 per cent in upland plantation areas (MERE 1999; UNEP 2001; CBSL 2010, 2011, 2012; Pushpakumara et al. 2012a).