Documenting Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Minorities: The Other 2%
Published Sri Lanka is home to 21 million people, 19 ethnicities, and four officially recognized religions. For the longest time, however, there were no official records of most of the island’s ethno-religious minorities. The ones we know about are the Sinhalese, Tamils, and Moors, given that they are taught in school. Everyone else—who make up two percent of the population—is categorised as ‘other’.
Who though, are the ‘other’s? In January this year, the Ministry of National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages released People of Sri Lanka, a publication which officially documents all ethnic communities in the country.
