Sri Lanka has a population of 19 million. The people of Sri Lanka belong to different cultural groups. The biggest cultural group is the Sinhalese. The Sinhalese make up about 75 percent of the Sri Lankan people and they mostly live in the southwestern part of Sri Lanka. The language they speak is Sinhala, the official language, and most people are Buddhists. A small number are Christians (8%). Tamils, another cultural group, make up about 18 percent of Sri Lankan people. Most of them are Hindu.
Men normally dress in a long cloth wrapped around the waist and a shirt or jacket. The women of Sri Lanka wear brightly colored saris. If you found a Sri Lankan recipe, it would probably include rice, which is normally served with curried meat, fish, and vegetables.

Sri Lanka has many schools. All public schools and most private schools are free from the grades of kindergarten - college. Schools are found in most every village. Children between the ages of 5 and 12 are required to go to school. The languages taught in schools are Sinhalese and Tamil. English is taught in several international schools.