{"id":90982,"date":"2019-07-02T16:22:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T23:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=90982"},"modified":"2019-07-02T16:22:36","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T23:22:36","slug":"human-diversity-religious-hate-and-demographic-trend-in-sri-lanka-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/07\/02\/human-diversity-religious-hate-and-demographic-trend-in-sri-lanka-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"HUMAN DIVERSITY, RELIGIOUS HATE AND DEMOGRAPHIC TREND IN SRI LANKA PART 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The ethnic base\npopulation of Sri Lankan since 1881 census to latest reported census is given\nin the Table (a) in which clearly indicates that Sinhala ethnic group[G1]<\/a>  has gradually increased as a ratio of population and Sri Lankan\nTamils’ ratio has notably declined from 26.69% to 12.86% in 1911, I assume that\nthe major reason to change was the beginning of the Tamil population\nclassification as Sri Lanka Tamils, Indian Tamils, and Indian Moors.  Why such a change was done for a single\nethnic group of Tamil[G2]<\/a>  is difficult to assume. However, it can postulate that the Census\nAuthority wished to show a greater diversity in Tamil population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The population of Sri Lanka in terms\nof the ethnical base is given in the following (Table a)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: United Nations Estimates based\non Census of Sri Lanka   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total\npopulation of Sri Lanka in 2017 according to the United Nations estimates based\non the census conducted in the past and estimates of the Central Bank report was\n20920934, which was equivalent to 0.028% of the World Population. From this\npopulation, 19.4% are living in urban areas and 80.6% of the population is\nliving in rural and semi-urban areas. Another vital factor is nearly 3 Million\nof Sri Lanka\u2019s population are living exile, however, these statistics are not\nreliable because those who have gone overseas and change the citizenship could\nnot be regarded as a part of the population of Sri Lanka though they born in\nthe country unless all take dual citizenship.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Table (a)\nfurther indicates the ethnic base of total population. Historically, the first\ncensus of Sri Lanka conducted in 1881 in which the ethnic mix of the population\nwas 69.91% Sinhala, 24.9% Sri Lankan Tamils, 6.69% Sri Lankan Moor, 0.65%\nBurghers or Eurasians and 0.32% Sri Lankan Malays.  The ethnic mixture has changed in 1911 census\nbecause Indian Tamils (12.93%) and Indian Moors (5.70%) added to the ethnic\nmixture of the population. Since 1911, statistics demonstrate that Indian\nTamils and Moors in Sri Lanka have increased decreasing the ratio of Sri Lankan\nTamils but since 1963 the situation has dramatically changed by the Indo-Lanka\nAgreement, which allowed the government of Sri Lanka to deport a part of Indian\npopulation back to India. The notable display is that Indian Moors have\nvanished from Sri Lanka\u2019s soil as a result of Indo-Lanka agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other\nsignificant trend in the ethnic population is that Sinhala population has been\nincreased from 66.91% in 1881 to 74.9% in 2011 and the estimate for 2017\nindicates that current ratio of Sinhala population might 76% in Sri Lanka. The\npopulation of Sri Lankan Tamils in 1881 was 24.9% but it has dramatically\ndeclined to 11.15% in 2011.  Indian Tamil\npopulation reflected an increase from 12.93% in 1911 to 15.43% in 1931 then\nIndian Tamil population has declined to 4.12% in 2011. The Muslim population\nhas increased to 1892638 (9.30%) from 184500 (6.69%) in 1881 [G3]<\/a> and the increase in Muslim population 2.49% between 1881 to 2011 is\nvery much lesser than the 8.5% of the increase in Sinhala population in the\nsame period.  Therefore, some information\nin social media is mere fabrications than the actual statics in the country.[G4]<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changes in\nethnic population in Sri Lanka from 1911 was contributed by many factors.  There is no doubt that Sinhala population has\nnaturally increased and many population studies lead us to assume that\nmigration of Sinhala population to overseas countries after 1963 was in a\nnegligible volume and Sinhala rural people have economically established in the\ncountry as a result of the expansion of education[G5]<\/a> . They have entered public and private offices and took over the\npower of administration to a reasonable extent of the country.[G6]<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lankan Tamil\npopulation was dramatically declined probably contributing several\nfactors.  The major contributory factor\nwas a migration of Sri Lankan Tamils to overseas countries. A large volume of\nSri Lankan Tamils migrated to India, UK, Canada, Europe, Australia and New\nZealand.  The trend for going overseas\nbegan in the early 1970s and LTTE war encouraged to leave Tamils from the\ncountry.  The major reasons for them to\nleave the country was economic factors called green pastures. After finishing\nthe LTTE war in 2009, Sri Lankan Tamils did not come back and still it seems\nthat they attempt to go overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we analyse the trend of the\npopulation in Sri Lanka, the next significant factor is the religious\nassociation of people.  Table (b)\nindicates the population by religions from 1881 to 2012.  In Sri Lanka, Muslim religion treats as an\nethnic group despite the ethnic classifications in other countries in the\nworld.  Muslim religious groups in Middle\nEast countries do not classify as an ethnic group but they treat as a religious\ngroup.  Tamil ethnic group in Sri Lanka\nincludes Hindus and Christians whilst Sinhala ethnic groups include Buddhists\nand Christians.  In fact, when originally\nclassify ethnic population, Muslim population should have included to two major\nethnic groups as Sinhala speaking Muslims and Tamil speaking Muslims.  If the classification was done so, the\npicture of the ethnic population would have dramatically changed.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Population of Sri Lanka by\nReligion (Table b)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: United Nations Estimates based\non Census of Sri Lanka       <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trend of\nchange in the religious population indicates that Buddhists in 1881 was 61.53%\nof total population has increased to 70.10% in 2012 while Hindus have declined\nto 12.58% in 2012 from 21.51% in 1881. Muslim religious group has increased to\n9.66% in 2012 from 7.17% in 1881 and Christian population has declined to 7.62%\nin 2012 from 9.71% in 1881.  Other\nreligious groups have seriously declined to 0.03% in 2012 from 0.08% in 1881.\nWhen generally considers the trend of religious population, Buddhists have the\nhighest increase (12.58%) followed by Muslims 2.49% during 1881 to 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The population\nreport of 2012 clearly indicates that the growth of population in relation to\nethnic communities and religious communities have not been calculated and it\nmight be a racist practice and may be subject to communal disharmony. It might\nbe difficulty in identifying birth and death of people in each religious group.  The rate of population growth is the\ndifference between birth rate and death rate, which are calculated how many to per\nthousands of people and the difference between the birth and the death rate\nconsider as a percentage of population growth. \nSri Lanka’s annual population growth from 1953 to 1971 remained at 2.8%\nto 2.2%, which was a higher rate of growth. \nEconomic policymakers concerned on this matter because if the population\ngrowth rate is higher than economic growth rate, it would be a reason to create\nmacroeconomic, social and family problems. \nHowever, since 1971 population growth rate has been declined and in\n2012, it was 0.7%.  The control of\npopulation growth is an essential economic policy requirement for small\ncountries like Sri Lanka.  As we fully\naware, China had implemented one child for a family policy considering economic\nissues irrespective of ethnic or religious factors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we observe the\ntrends of population growth in Sri Lanka, a significant point needs to be\nconsidered is the fertility of women because the fertility rate is the most\ninfluential factor, which impacts on the growth of population.  According to the Census Report of 2012, the\naverage fertility rate of women in Sri Lanka is 2.4%, which includes all women\nirrespective of different ethnic and religious communities.  The disaggregate data for each community, the\nreport presents as Sinhala women 2.3%, Sri Lanka Tamil 2.3%, Indian Tamil 2.9%\nand Muslim 3.3%.  This might be a disturbing\nfactor for Sinhala and Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka. Why is the fertility\nrate of Muslim women and Indian Tamil women higher than the national average?\nThe education level of women and other family and social issues might be\ncontributing to this situation.   [G7]<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fertility of women is influenced by many factors, which could be\ncategorized as social, economic, cultural, religious, education and behavioural\nreasons and it concerns with the general health of women. There was more\nresearch in Sri Lanka in relation to this area. \nThe higher fertility might be a problem to a country.<\/a>[G8]<\/a> [G9]<\/a> [G10]<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People need to\nunderstand demographic trends looking at actual statistics rather than\nlistening to fabricated stories.   I read\nvarious articles in internet about women fertility trend in Sri Lanka and the\nreliability of information is questionable and the rate of growth of population\nin religious group may be required to control although it might treat as a\nracist act. The best action is to calculate it and keep confidential for policy\nor referencing purpose.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS The ethnic base population of Sri Lankan since 1881 census to latest reported census is given in the Table (a) in which clearly indicates that Sinhala ethnic group[G1]  has gradually increased as a ratio of population and Sri Lankan Tamils’ ratio has notably declined from 26.69% to 12.86% in 1911, I assume […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edward-theophilus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}