Sumanthiran questions CBSL report over Northern Province population figure

ITAK General Secretary M.A. Sumanthiran has questioned population data published in a Central Bank report, pointing to a major discrepancy in the figure given for the Northern Province.

“The Central Bank Report gives an absolutely false data in relation to the Northern Province! The population of the North is said to be 557,000 when the actual figure is more than double that,” Sumanthiran said in a post on ‘X’. 

The “Country Profile – 2025” table shared by Sumanthiran lists Sri Lanka’s total population at 21.756 million and gives the Northern Province population as 557,000.

The table lists the populations of the other provinces as Western 6.104 million, Central 2.712 million, Southern 2.603 million, Eastern 1.784 million, North Western 2.583 million, North Central 1.406 million, Uva 1.401 million and Sabaragamuwa 2.012 million.

Official 2024 Census figures published by the Department of Census and Statistics, however, put the Northern Province population at 1,150,148, or 5.3% of Sri Lanka’s population.  

The census breakdown records 594,751 people in Jaffna, 123,756 in Mannar, 172,312 in Vavuniya, 122,619 in Mullaitivu and 136,710 in Kilinochchi. 

The figure of 557,000 shown in the table is therefore less than half the Northern Province population recorded in the latest official census. (Newswire)

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