Technology and Research Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said the Sinhalese community will be a minority in Sri Lanka in the next century.
Addressing a function in Colombo, Minister Ranawaka has said the growth of the Sinhalese population in the country is slower than that of the population of Sri Lanka.
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"It will take another 160 years to double the population of the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka" Minister Ranawaka said while adding that population-growth of different ethnic communities in Sri Lanka is asymmetrical.
Ranawaka, who is a stalwart of the Jathika Hela Urumaya, has said this is the last century in which the Sinhalese community remains as the 'majority' in Sri Lanka.
According to the statistics of the Census Department, The Sinhalese community makse up 74.9% of the population (according to 2012 census) and are concentrated in the densely populated south-west and central parts of the Island. The Sri Lanka Tamils, live predominantly in the north-east of the island forming the largest minority group at 11.2% (according to the 2012 census) of the population.
The Muslims, who descend from Arab traders that settled in Sri Lanka, form the third largest ethnic group at 9.2% of the population and are mostly concentrated in urban areas in the southern parts of the country with substantial populations in the Central and Eastern provinces.
