Sinhalisation of the North-East

Census

The North-Eastern districts of Sri Lanka (highlighted in red)

Northern Province

(Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar & Vavuniya)

Census information from 1881-2012 has consistently shown that every division in the Northern Province bar one has had an overwhelming Tamil speaking majority. The one exception is the small Vavuniya south division which borders Anuradhapura district and has a long standing Sinhala majority. It is this division that accounts for the majority of Sinhala people in the province, which prior to independence did not exceed 2% of the total population1-5.

Population of Northern Province by ethnic group 1881 to 2012

Year Tamil Muslim Sinhalese Total No.
No. % No. % No. %
1881 Census 289,481 95.70% 10,416 3.44% 1,379 0.46% 302,500
1891 Census 304,355 95.32% 11,831 3.71% 1,922 0.60% 319,296
1901 Census 326,379 95.73% 11,862 3.48% 1,555 0.46% 340,936
1911 Census 352,698 95.41% 12,818 3.47% 2,890 0.78% 369,651
1921 Census 356,801 95.19% 13,095 3.49% 3,795 1.01% 374,829
1946 Census 449,958 93.82% 18,183 3.79% 9,602 2.00% 479,572
1963 Census 689,470 92.93% 30,760 4.15% 20,270 2.73% 741,910
1971 Census 799,406 91.07% 37,855 4.31% 39,511 4.50% 877,768
1981 Census 1,021,006 92.03% 50,991 4.60% 35,128 3.17% 1,109,404
2012 Census 993,741 93.86% 32,364 3.06% 32,331 3.05% 1,058,762

Eastern Province

(Trincomalee, Batticaloa & Amparai)

Every district in the Eastern Province in the 19th and early 20th century had an overwhelming Tamil speaking majority1-5. In 1911 the Eastern province was over 95% Tamil speaking, although a Sinhala minority predominated in some inner hinterland areas5. The eastern littoral itself was almost entirely Tamil speaking and formed a contiguous Tamil region with the north via contact between Trincomalee and Mullaitivu districts. It is this North-East region that forms the territorial basis of the Tamil homeland.

Population of Eastern Province by ethnic group 1881 to 2012

Year Tamil Muslim Sinhalese Total No.
No. % No. % No. %
1881 Census 75,318 58.96% 43,001 33.66% 5,947 4.66% 127,755
1891 Census 86,701 58.41% 51,206 34.50% 7,508 5.06% 148,444
1901 Census 96,917 55.83% 62,448 35.97% 8,778 5.06% 173,602
1911 Census 101,181 55.08% 70,395 38.32% 6,909 3.76% 183,698
1921 Census 103,245 53.54% 75,992 39.41% 8,744 4.53% 192,821
1946 Census 136,059 48.75% 109,024 39.06% 23,456 8.40% 279,112
1953 Census 167,898 47.37% 135,322 38.18% 46,470 13.11% 354,410
1963 Census 246,059 45.03% 184,434 33.75% 108,636 19.88% 546,474
1971 Census 315,566 43.98% 247,178 34.45% 148,572 20.70% 717,571
1981 Census 410,156 42.06% 315,436 32.34% 243,701 24.99% 975,251
2007 Census 590,132 40.39% 549,857 37.64% 316,101 21.64% 1,460,939
2012 Census 617,295 39.79% 569,738 36.72% 359,136 23.15% 1,551,381

References

  1. Nicholas Bergman, Return of the population of the island of Ceylon, Colombo 1827
  2. The census of Ceylon, Colombo 1888
  3. The census of Ceylon, 1901 (Colombo 1902) pp 82-83
  4. Census publications, Ceylon 1921, Vol IV, (Colombo, 1926) p239
  5. The census of Ceylon, 1911, Colombo 1922, p35
  6. Census of Ceylon, 1946, General Report, vol. 1, part 1, Colombo 1950.
  7. Census of Ceylon, 1953, Vol. 1, part 2;
  8. Census of Ceylon, 1963, (Colombo, 1967);
  9. Census of Population, 1971, Sri Lanka, Colombo 1978
  10. Sri Lanka Population Census-1981 – Dept. of Census & Statistics

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