Districts of Sri Lanka

Districts (Sinhala: දිස්ත්‍රි‌ක්‌ක, romanized: Distrikka, Tamil: மாவட்டம், romanized: Māvaṭṭam) are the second level administrative divisions of Sri Lanka, preceded by provinces. Sri Lanka has 25 districts organized into 9 provinces.^[1] Districts are further divided into a number of divisional secretariats (commonly known as D.S. divisions), which are in turn subdivided into 14,022 grama niladhari divisions.^[2] There are 331 DS divisions in Sri Lanka.^[3]

Districts of Sri Lanka
Category	Second level administrative division
Location	Sri Lanka
Number	25
Populations	92,238–2,324,349
Areas	699–7,179 km2
Government	District secretariat
Subdivisions	D.S. divisions

Each district is administered under a district secretary,^[4] who is appointed by the central government.^[5] The main tasks of the district secretariat involve coordinating communications and activities of the central government and divisional secretariats. The district secretariat is also responsible for implementing and monitoring development projects at the district level and assisting lower-level subdivisions in their activities,^[6] as well as revenue collection and coordination of elections in the district.^[7]

History

The country was first divided into several administrative units during the Anuradhapura Kingdom. The kingdom was divided into three provinces; Rajarata, Ruhuna and Malaya Rata. These were further subdivided into smaller units called rata.^[8] Over time, the number of provinces increased, but the second-level administrative division continued to be the rata. However, with the country eventually being divided into more than one kingdom and with foreign colonial missions landing and taking parts of the country under their control, this structure began to change. The territory of the Kotte Kingdom was organized into four disavas, which were further subdivided into forty korales. The korales had their own civil and military officials with a small militia. The Jaffna kingdom appears to have had a similar administrative structure to this with four provinces.^[9]

When the Portuguese took over parts of the country after their arrival in 1505,^[10] they maintained more or less the same administrative structure followed by Sri Lankan rulers.^[11] During the Dutch rule in the country, the terrain under their control was divided into three administrative divisions. These were subdivided into disavas as in earlier systems.^[12] The British initially continued this system,^[13] but following reforms in 1796 to 1802, the country was divided according to ethnic composition.^[14][15] This was abolished by the Colebrook–Cameron reforms in 1833 and a legislative council was created,^[16] making the island a politically and administratively single unit. Five provinces were created, later expanded into nine, and these were subdivided into twenty-one districts. These districts were administered by officials known as Government Agents or Assistant Government Agents.^[14]

In 1955, the district replaced the province as the country's main administrative unit.^[17] The Ampara District was created in April 1961,^[18][19] followed by the creation of the Mullaitivu and Gampaha districts in September 1978^[20] through a new constitution, which also reintroduced the provinces as the main administrative units.^[21] The newest district to be created was the Kilinochchi district in February 1984,^[22] and the current constitution states that the territory of Sri Lanka consists of 25 administrative districts. These districts may be subdivided or amalgamated by a resolution of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.^[23]

Districts

All population data is from the most recent census of Sri Lanka, in 2012.

District	Area map	Province	District capital	Land area in km2 (mi2)[24]	Inland water area in km2 (mi2)[24]	Total area in km 2 (mi2)[24]	Population (2012)[25]	Population density per km2 (per mi2)[a]
Ampara		Eastern	Ampara	4,222 (1,630)	193 (75)	4,415 (1,705)	649,402	154 (400)
Anuradhapura		North Central	Anuradhapura	6,664 (2,573)	515 (199)	7,179 (2,772)	860,575	129 (330)
Badulla		Uva	Badulla	2,827 (1,092)	34 (13)	2,861 (1,105)	815,405	288 (750)
Batticaloa		Eastern	Batticaloa	2,610 (1,010)	244 (94)	2,854 (1,102)	526,567	202 (520)
Colombo		Western	Colombo	676 (261)	23 (8.9)	699 (270)	2,324,349	3,438 (8,900)
Galle		Southern	Galle	1,617 (624)	35 (14)	1,652 (638)	1,063,334	658 (1,700)
Gampaha		Western	Gampaha	1,341 (518)	46 (18)	1,387 (536)	2,304,833	1,719 (4,450)
Hambantota		Southern	Hambantota	2,496 (964)	113 (44)	2,609 (1,007)	599,903	240 (620)
Jaffna		Northern	Jaffna	929 (359)	96 (37)	1,025 (396)	583,882	629 (1,630)
Kalutara		Western	Kalutara	1,576 (608)	22 (8.5)	1,598 (617)	1,221,948	775 (2,010)
Kandy		Central	Kandy	1,917 (740)	23 (8.9)	1,940 (750)	1,375,382	716 (1,850)
Kegalle		Sabaragamuwa	Kegalle	1,685 (651)	8 (3.1)	1,693 (654)	840,648	499 (1,290)
Kilinochchi		Northern	Kilinochchi	1,205 (465)	74 (29)	1,279 (494)	113,510	94 (240)
Kurunegala		North Western	Kurunegala	4,624 (1,785)	192 (74)	4,816 (1,859)	1,618,465	350 (910)
Mannar		Northern	Mannar	1,880 (730)	116 (45)	1,996 (771)	99,570	53 (140)
Matale		Central	Matale	1,952 (754)	41 (16)	1,993 (770)	484,531	248 (640)
Matara		Southern	Matara	1,270 (490)	13 (5.0)	1,283 (495)	814,048	641 (1,660)
Monaragala		Uva	Monaragala	5,508 (2,127)	131 (51)	5,639 (2,177)	451,058	82 (210)
Mullaitivu		Northern	Mullaitivu	2,415 (932)	202 (78)	2,617 (1,010)	92,238	38 (98)
Nuwara Eliya		Central	Nuwara Eliya	1,706 (659)	35 (14)	1,741 (672)	711,644	417 (1,080)
Polonnaruwa		North Central	Polonnaruwa	3,077 (1,188)	216 (83)	3,293 (1,271)	406,088	132 (340)
Puttalam		North Western	Puttalam	2,882 (1,113)	190 (73)	3,072 (1,186)	762,396	265 (690)
Ratnapura		Sabaragamuwa	Ratnapura	3,236 (1,249)	39 (15)	3,275 (1,264)	1,088,007	336 (870)
Trincomalee		Eastern	Trincomalee	2,529 (976)	198 (76)	2,727 (1,053)	379,541	150 (390)
Vavuniya		Northern	Vavuniya	1,861 (719)	106 (41)	1,967 (759)	172,115	92 (240)
Total				62,705 (24,211)	2,905 (1,122)	65,610 (25,330)	20,359,439	325 (840)

See also

• ISO 3166-2:LK

Notes

1. Population density has been calculated using the land area rather than the total area.