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Country profile

Sri Lanka

LK · LKA · South Asia

A consolidated migration profile for Sri Lanka: who arrives, who leaves, how many people are hosted or displaced, and the national context behind those numbers. Every figure below is a reported value from an official source — nothing is estimated or filled in.

CapitalColombo
RegionSouth Asia
SubregionSouth Asia
Population21,756,000
Refugees hosted 213 People protected here
Refugees from here — Fled abroad
Migrants living here 40,698 Foreign-born stock
Net migration -30,724 Net outflow
Asylum-seekers 271 Awaiting a decision
Reporting year 2025 Most recent data
Latest figures · 2025

Key migration numbers

The headline counts for the most recent reporting year. Refugees hosted are people this country protects; asylum-seekers are still awaiting a decision; applications are new asylum claims lodged during the year.

2025Reporting year
213Refugees hosted
271Asylum-seekers
18Applications (year)
Migration balance

Incoming vs outgoing

Annual estimates

Net migration is arrivals minus departures over the year. Positive means more people moved in than out. Migrant stock is the total foreign-born people living here now.

Net migration (year)-30,724Net outflow
Migrants living here40,698Migrant stock
Missing / dead migrants
No data available
IOM Missing Migrants Project
Historical series

Statistics

Recorded migrant, refugee and asylum populations over time. Each line is one category; gaps mean a year the source did not report a figure (the line bridges the gap rather than dropping to zero).

Population profile

Sex, age, religion & more

How the population breaks down across reported dimensions, grouped by the year each figure was reported (most recent first). Bars show each group’s share of the total; where only headcounts were published, the raw number is shown instead.

Religion

Religious make-up over time

National shares

Share of the population by faith across the recorded years. Each line is a stored national value; nothing is estimated.

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2020
Christian Muslim Jewish Unaffiliated Other

See the full religion timeline for this country →

Places of worship

Places of worship over time

Recorded counts

No places-of-worship counts are recorded for this country yet. See the Places of worship page for the full picture.

See the full places-of-worship timeline for this country → · browse individual places →

Displaced population by age cohort for the most recent reported year. Age is summed across sexes in the source data, so this is a single series per cohort — not a male/female split.

Displaced population by sex over the reported years, stacked so the top line reads as the total.

Sex

Female 4.9%
Male 7.4%
Unknown 87.7%

Age

0-4 0.7%
12-17 1.4%
18-59 7.1%
5-11 1.0%
60+ 0.1%
Country context

National indicators

Economy

GDP (current US$)108,825,231,671.20 USD2025
GDP per capita (current US$)5,002.08 USD2025
Unemployment (% of labour force)4.01 %2025
Personal remittances received (US$)6,721,617,581.92 USD2024
Personal remittances received (% of GDP)6.75 %2024

Population

Population, total21,756,000.00 people2025
Population density356.24 people/km22023

Migration

Net migration-30,724.00 people2025
International migrant stock, total40,698.00 people2024
International migrant stock (% of population)0.20 %2024

Asylum decisions

Asylum decisions - recognised5.00 people2025
Asylum decisions - rejected83.00 people2023
Asylum decisions - otherwise closed5.00 people2025
Asylum decisions - total10.00 people2025

Durable solutions

Returned refugees5.00 people2007
Returned IDPs3,734.00 people2023

Other

Life expectancy at birth, total (years)77.67 years2024
Current health expenditure (% of GDP)3.68 %2023
Primary completion rate, total (% of relevant age group)94.54 %2023
Gini index37.70 2019
Poverty headcount ratio at $2.15 a day (% of population)2.70 %2019
Context

Migration & quality of life

These charts place migration next to quality-of-life indicators over time. Correlation is not causation — a relationship here does not prove migration caused the change, or that a change caused the migration.

Economy

Gross domestic product

World Bank

GDP (current US$)

$108.83B

Reported 2025

GDP per capita (current US$)

$5,002

Reported 2025

Migrant stock as a share of the population (left axis, in percent) shown against life expectancy (right axis, in years) over the years.

Each point is one year: migrant share of population (x, in percent) versus life expectancy (y, in years).

Public safety

Recorded crime

Not migrant offending

National crime figures for context only — they describe the whole resident population and are not a measure of migrant offending.

Recorded crime by type
rate / 100k where available
CrimeRate / 100k
2.15
Homicide3.31
Public expenditure

Expenses

Migration-related public spending only — Official Development Assistance received and provided (which, for donor countries, includes in-donor refugee costs), in US dollars, stacked so the top line reads as the combined total for each year.

YearAmount (USD)Category
2023$827,259,827ODA received
2022$12,256,580ODA received
2021$155,349,655ODA received
2020$219,439,499ODA received
2019$192,955,872ODA received
2018$-247,283,722ODA received
2017$316,173,950ODA received
2016$373,471,252ODA received
2015$445,012,970ODA received
2014$491,632,172ODA received
2013$403,168,274ODA received
2012$490,851,563ODA received
2011$612,639,343ODA received
2010$459,000,000ODA received
2009$606,478,394ODA received
2008$634,498,352ODA received
2007$506,524,994ODA received
2006$685,006,653ODA received
2005$1,039,756,714ODA received
2004$408,351,654ODA received
2003$525,908,325ODA received
2002$249,879,883ODA received
2001$265,957,672ODA received
2000$222,429,337ODA received
1999$181,973,465ODA received
1998$321,518,463ODA received
1997$253,787,064ODA received
1996$347,667,419ODA received
1995$471,467,438ODA received
1994$512,467,407ODA received
1993$544,537,415ODA received
1992$510,547,424ODA received
1991$738,250,000ODA received
1990$615,950,012ODA received
1989$541,460,022ODA received
1988$570,469,971ODA received
1987$429,160,004ODA received
1986$507,450,012ODA received
1985$439,000,000ODA received
1984$428,440,002ODA received
1983$440,410,004ODA received
1982$397,420,013ODA received
1981$365,540,009ODA received
1980$381,170,013ODA received
1979$309,670,013ODA received
1978$297,929,993ODA received
1977$175,100,006ODA received
1976$160,309,998ODA received
1975$141,429,993ODA received
1974$76,970,001ODA received
1973$55,340,000ODA received
1972$55,590,000ODA received
1971$55,080,002ODA received
1970$49,139,999ODA received
1969$49,860,001ODA received
1968$52,020,000ODA received
1967$46,660,000ODA received
1966$29,879,999ODA received
1965$14,950,000ODA received
1964$8,880,000ODA received
1963$10,790,000ODA received
1962$13,080,000ODA received
1961$11,230,000ODA received
1960$11,090,000ODA received
Sources & notes

Figures are consolidated from the UNHCR Refugee Data Finder and the World Bank / UNODC. Only reported values are shown — blanks mean a source did not publish a figure, never a fabricated estimate. Statistics describe recorded populations and movements and should not be read as causal relationships.