Sri Lanka Population

Sri Lanka moved early through its demographic transition for the region, with fertility now around the replacement level and life expectancy relatively high. As a result it is ageing sooner than many of its South Asian neighbours. A severe recent economic crisis has added emigration pressure, with skilled workers seeking opportunities abroad.

With roughly 23.3 million people as of 2026, Sri Lanka ranks 60th in the world by population. In Southern Asia, where it lies, that future is driven by fertility, longevity and the movement of people across its borders. It packs in roughly 372 people per square kilometre.

Growth continues for Sri Lanka until around 2051, the year its population is set to crest at about 24.8 million. From there a slow fall takes it to roughly 21.3 million by century's end.

The median age is set to climb from about 33 today to roughly 50 by 2100, while life expectancy, near 78 years, keeps rising. That ageing slowly changes everything from the size of the workforce to the cost of care and pensions.

With fertility near 1.95, just under the 2.1 replacement mark, natural increase is fading. Emigration adds a further drag, as departures outnumber arrivals year to year.

These figures follow the UN's medium variant, the most widely cited scenario. The low and high variants, driven mainly by differing fertility assumptions, fan out into a wide range by 2100, so treat each number as a central estimate rather than a precise forecast.