Census: religion and ethnicity by district

Census population by district, religion and ethnicity, a district a column. Irregular, 2012–2024.

Published by the Department of Census and Statistics; read from CBSL Economic and Social Statistics.

Period

Column

1 Jan 2024

24 indicators × 25 districts

	Colombo	Gampaha	Kalutara	Kandy	Matale	Nuwara Eliya	Galle	Matara	Hambantota	Jaffna	Mannar	Vavuniya	Mullaitivu	Kilinochchi	Batticaloa	Ampara	Trincomalee	Kurunegala	Puttalam	Anuradhapura	Polonnaruwa	Badulla	Monaragala	Ratnapura	Kegalle	Total
2012 Census - total population '000 persons	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - religion - buddhist (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - religion - hindu (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - religion - islam (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - religion - roman catholic (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - religion - christian (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - religion - other (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - ethnicity - sinhalese (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - ethnicity - Sri lankan tamil (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - ethnicity - indian tamil (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - ethnicity - Sri lankan moor (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2012 Census - ethnicity - other (%)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2024 Census - total population '000 persons	2,375	2,436	1,306	1,462	527	725	1,097	838	671	595	124	172	123	137	596	745	443	1,768	819	960	448	872	528	1,145	870	21,782
2024 Census - religion - buddhist (%)	70.8	71.6	82.8	72.8	79.4	38.5	93.5	94.0	96.8	0.5	0.3	10.6	8.4	1.1	1.0	37.1	24.1	88.1	44.1	89.9	89.3	73.0	94.5	87.3	83.7	69.8
2024 Census - religion - hindu (%)	8.3	2.9	3.2	9.9	8.8	52.0	1.4	1.7	0.2	82.3	21.2	66.5	72.4	80.7	62.9	15.4	24.4	1.0	3.5	0.4	1.6	19.1	2.9	9.1	6.5	12.6
2024 Census - religion - islam (%)	12.6	5.5	10.6	15.3	9.9	3.0	4.2	3.6	2.7	0.7	27.4	10.3	2.7	1.0	27.1	45.6	46.5	8.1	21.6	8.7	8.3	6.1	2.3	2.3	8.4	10.7
2024 Census - religion - roman catholic (%)	5.9	18.2	2.8	1.3	1.5	4.4	0.4	0.3	0.1	13.0	46.6	7.4	11.4	10.6	4.3	1.0	3.2	2.3	29.5	0.6	0.6	1.1	0.2	0.7	0.8	5.6
2024 Census - religion - christian (%)	2.3	1.8	0.6	0.7	0.4	2.1	0.5	0.4	0.2	3.5	4.5	5.2	5.1	6.6	4.7	0.9	1.8	0.5	1.3	0.4	0.2	0.7	0.1	0.6	0.6	1.3
2024 Census - religion - other (%)	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
2024 Census - ethnicity - sinhalese (%)	76.1	89.8	85.7	73.7	80.6	38.9	93.9	94.1	97.0	0.6	0.5	10.8	9.1	1.3	1.1	37.1	24.5	90.6	72.3	90.6	90.0	73.4	94.7	87.6	84.6	74.1
2024 Census - ethnicity - Sri lankan tamil (%)	10.3	4.0	3.2	8.4	8.0	8.3	1.6	1.3	0.3	98.6	72.7	78.4	88.2	97.3	71.3	16.9	28.9	1.2	5.9	0.5	1.7	9.4	2.8	8.0	4.7	12.3
2024 Census - ethnicity - indian tamil (%)	0.6	0.3	0.6	2.6	1.5	50.0	0.3	1.0	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.9	0.2	0.5	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.0	11.0	0.2	2.1	2.5	2.8
2024 Census - ethnicity - Sri lankan moor (%)	12.0	5.1	10.4	15.0	9.8	2.6	4.2	3.5	2.1	0.7	26.5	9.7	2.5	0.9	26.9	45.6	46.1	8.0	21.3	8.7	8.2	6.0	2.3	2.3	8.2	10.5
2024 Census - ethnicity - other (%)	1.0	0.8	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.1	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.3