The Sabaragamuwa Province (, , ) is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. Ratnapura is the capital of the province.

History

The provinces of Sri Lanka were created by the British in the 19th century, but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils.

The province is named after its former indigenous inhabitants, namely the Sabara, an Indic term for hunter-gatherer tribes, a term seldom used in ancient Sri Lanka.

The Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka is located in the town of Belihuloya, and was founded in 1991.

Geography

The province has an area of 4,968&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> and a population of 1,918,880. Major towns include Ratnapura and Kegalle.

Demographics

Ethnic groups

The Sinhalese are the majority ethnic group of the Sabaragamuwa province. Additionally, there are sizeable minority populations of Indian Tamils, Moors and Sri Lankan Tamils.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Ethnic group

! Population

! %

|-

| Sinhalese

| 1,666,180

| 86.4%

|-

| Indian Tamils

| 105,872

| 5.49%

|-

| Sri Lankan Moors

| 82,343

| 4.27%

|-

| Sri Lankan Tamils

| 72,298

| 3.75%

|-

| Others

| 1,962

| 0.09%

|-

! Total

! 1,918,880

! 100.00%

|}

Religion

{| class="wikitable"

|+Religion in Sabaragamuwa Province 1981–2012

! rowspan="2" | Religion

! colspan="2" | Census 1981

! colspan="2" | Census 2001

! colspan="2" | Census 2012

|-

!Population

!%

!Population

!%

!Population

!%

|-

| Buddhism||1,259,396||84.98%||1,547,769||85.77%||1,653,381||85.73%

|-

| Hinduism||146,010||9.86%||148,400||8.2%||156,312||8.1%

|-

| Islam||51,248||3.46%||73,576||4%||85,610||4.44%

|-

| Christianity||24,892||1.67%||30,994||2%||33,219||1.72%

|-

| Others/None||485||0.03%||592||0.03%||133||0.006%

|-

! Total ||1,482,031||100%||1,801,331||100%||1,928,655||100%

|}

Administrative divisions

Sabaragamuwa is divided into two districts and 28 divisional secretariats.

Districts

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Administrative Divisions of Sabaragamuwa Province

|-

! District

! Capital

! Area (km<sup>2</sup>)

! Population

|-

| Kegalle District

| Kegalle

| 1,693

| 837,179

|-

| Ratnapura District

| Ratnapura

| 3,275

| 1,088,007

|}

Major population centres

  • Ratnapura
  • Balangoda
  • Embilipitiya
  • Kegalle
  • Bulathkohupitiya
  • Belihuloya
  • Eheliyagoda
  • Kalawana
  • Kuruwita
  • Mawanella
  • Aranayaka
  • Rakwana
  • Imbulpe
  • Deraniyagala
  • Ambepussa
  • Rambukkana
  • Kitulgala
  • Panamure
  • Godakawela
  • Yatiyanthota
  • Karawanalla
  • Ruwanwella
  • Aguruwalla
  • Dehiowita

See also

  • Provinces of Sri Lanka
  • Districts of Sri Lanka

References

  • Cities in Sabaragamuwa province
  • Postal codes of Sabaragamuwa province