World geography › Southern Asia › Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: map and facts

Sri Lanka is in Southern Asia. It has about 21.8 million people (2025), the 62nd largest population. It covers 65,610 km², the 120th largest by area. That is about 332 people per km². Its highest point is Pidurutalagala, at 2,524 m. The longest river on its map is the Mahaweli, 335 km from source to mouth.

Sri Lanka and the land around it, with its rivers. The triangle marks its highest point, Pidurutalagala; the circles mark its capitals, Colombo and Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. Boundaries follow India’s official position.

Facts

Population: 21,756,000 (2025, World Bank)
Area: 65,610 km² (2024, World Bank)
Capital: Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Highest point: Pidurutalagala, 2,524 m (Wikidata)
Forest: 34.4% of the land (2024, World Bank)

Rivers

The longest rivers on the map of Sri Lanka, with the length of each whole river (Wikidata):

Mahaweli: 335 km

Mountains and landscapes

Its highest peaks:

Pidurutalagala: 2,524 m (its highest point)

Land

Land cover seen from satellites (NASA MODIS, 2024): wooded savanna 31.9%, savanna 23.8%, evergreen broadleaf forest 18.4%, farmland with natural plants 9.9%, grassland 6.8%, farmland 5.7%.

Landforms, worked out from the height of the land (USGS GMTED2010): plains 64.8%, hills 19.5%, mountains 15.7%.

Forests covered 34.4% of its land in 2024, down from 37.8% in 1990 (World Bank).

Neighbours

Sri Lanka has no land borders on this map.

Explore the map of Sri Lanka

In the game you can zoom into its rivers, mountains, minerals, terrain and forests. Free, with no sign-up.

Sources

India’s boundaries are drawn according to India’s official position, simplified for small-scale maps (data: Natural Earth, India view). Each figure shows its year and source; some are rounded. Data release 2026.2.

Natural Earth (naturalearthdata.com), public domain. Boundaries follow India's official position (Natural Earth's India point of view). Terms
GMTED2010 courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (Danielson and Gesch 2011, USGS Open-File Report 2011-1073). Terms
Friedl, M., Sulla-Menashe, D. (2022). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Cover Type Yearly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061. NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MCD12Q1.061. Terms
The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL): UN Population Division, national statistical offices (2025 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Rounded by Make Me Smarter. Terms
The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Surface area (AG.SRF.TOTL.K2): FAO (2024 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Terms
The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Forest area (% of land area) (AG.LND.FRST.ZS): FAO, FAOSTAT (2024 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Rounded by Make Me Smarter. Terms
Wikidata (CC0): names, capitals, peak heights and river lengths, checked by Make Me Smarter. Terms
Landforms worked out by Make Me Smarter from GMTED2010.

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