Ethnic composition of Sri Lanka 1921

	Total	Low Country Sinhalese	Kandyan Sinhalese	Ceylon Tamils	Indian Tamils	Ceylon Moors	Indian Moors	Burghers & Eurasians	Malays	Veddas	Europeans	Others
Ceylon	4498605	1927057	1089097	517324	602735	251938	33026	29439	13402	4510	8118	21959
Anuradhapura	96525	5974	66912	6182	4555	10933	605	172	101	823	58	210
Anuradhapura Local Board	7781	2272	1196	1960	1365	502	195	136	82	-	38	35
rural	87440	3314	65443	4188	2780	10418	406	28	9	823	17	14
estates	1304	388	273	34	410	13	4	8	10	-	3	161
Badulla	233864	12018	124983	3261	82562	6096	1415	668	670	448	564	1179
Badulla Local Board	8126	1850	3710	344	698	694	241	234	296	-	47	12
Bandarawela Local Board	1686	501	312	125	244	240	80	59	83	-	38	4
Lunugala Sanitary Board	526	169	74	44	94	69	57	1	12	-	1	5
rural	140033	7931	118918	2511	4362	4836	567	187	80	448	82	111
estates	83493	1567	1969	237	77164	257	470	187	199	-	396	1047
Batticaloa	158709	1414	5829	83742	923	62813	333	1061	24	2461	67	42
Batticaloa Local Board	10564	238	84	8598	220	543	93	730	15	1	35	7
Kalmunai Town	2586	75	3	2259	9	45	29	163	1	-	2	-
rural	144822	1099	5732	72215	677	62208	211	157	8	2459	21	35
estates	737	2	10	670	17	17	-	11	-	1	9	-
Chilaw	102374	84660	2749	5386	4788	3339	565	197	181	-	50	459
Chilaw Local Board	6642	4572	118	471	496	498	229	76	162	-	10	10
rural	92504	78283	2592	4882	3062	2811	327	102	18	-	34	393
estates	3228	1805	39	33	1230	30	9	19	1	-	6	56
Colombo	923143	738710	10140	23484	58152	34359	15951	18445	6632	1	3248	14021
Colombo Municipality	244163	110470	4130	14593	39560	25417	14275	14863	5852	1	2836	12166
Moratuwa Local Board	28608	26703	408	279	526	130	169	200	4	-	37	152
Negombo Local Board	21262	16411	128	1398	1001	1342	294	379	93	-	53	163
Minuwangoda Local Board	906	637	8	37	71	69	80	-	1	-	2	1
Avissawella (*)	1644	1142	144	57	159	69	8	21	21	-	8	15
Dehiwala-Mt.Lavinia (*)	25341	22100	390	255	589	317	39	39	51	-	110	73
Gampaha (*)	1590	1425	34	36	38	16	23	23	5	-	-	4
Ja-Ela (*)	1838	1718	16	35	44	9	4	4	-	-	-	8
Kolonnawa (*)	6995	5859	76	57	725	17	17	99	20	-	19	106
Kotte (*)	14511	12555	206	111	1046	90	42	384	45	-	19	13
Wattala-Mabole-Peliyagoda (*)	6444	5548	105	121	216	200	42	88	26	-	9	89
rural balance	555667	529270	4362	6414	5567	6625	891	2245	413	-	99	1145
estates	14174	4872	133	91	8610	58	67	100	101	-	56	86
Galle	313118	290801	1063	770	7623	11126	169	970	259	-	192	145
Galle Municipality	39073	28675	153	367	451	8165	100	780	214	-	110	58
Ambalangoda Sanitary Board	3347	3072	57	73	63	28	10	18	9	-	1	16
rural	259445	254919	799	292	353	2912	22	90	26	-	6	26
estates	11253	4135	54	38	6756	21	37	82	10	-	75	45
Hambantota	119607	114724	322	614	419	2495	24	110	791	-	13	95
Hambantota Sanitary Board	2849	1132	11	41	30	941	13	20	577	-	4	80
Tangalla Sanitary Board	4896	4239	29	41	20	492	2	57	4	-	6	6
rural	111668	109262	281	473	342	1049	9	32	210	-	3	7
estates	194	91	1	59	27	13	-	1	-	-	-	2
Jaffna	330541	826	216	323077	1797	3518	230	489	97	-	114	177
Jaffna Local Board	42436	566	108	36995	758	3199	175	429	80	-	75	51
rural	288014	253	108	286000	1039	319	55	60	17	-	38	125
estates	91	7	-	82	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
Kalutara	323704	266578	2595	1588	33141	17537	521	677	241	-	217	609
Kalutara Local Board	13596	10241	144	284	465	1982	140	246	28	-	18	48
Panadura Sanitary Board	10747	9715	215	173	333	104	49	78	38	-	7	35
Beruwala (*)	3552	2554	46	32	30	851	24	9	-	-	6	-
Horana (*)	1416	1168	22	35	78	78	1	10	1	-	-	23
rural balance	257645	238073	1932	898	1700	14455	144	173	47	-	20	203
estates	36748	4827	236	166	30535	67	163	161	127	-	166	300
Kandy	433993	35992	205223	6715	147210	26480	4738	3132	2002	-	1470	1031
Kandy Municipality	32562	10445	8012	2269	3084	3902	1165	1865	1017	-	462	341
Gampola Local Board	6202	1614	1309	343	665	1614	361	114	133	-	14	35
Hatton-Dickoya Local Board	2940	1069	352	239	443	312	266	79	93	-	58	29
Nawalapitiya Local Board	3221	948	431	133	615	640	177	140	47	-	55	35
Kadugannawa (*)	1138	433	228	153	67	122	76	27	12	-	20	-
Wattegama (*)	842	285	154	112	99	110	71	3	-	-	7	1
rural balance	236764	17228	188356	3160	7007	18905	1156	371	320	-	92	169
estates	150324	3970	6381	306	135230	875	1466	533	380	-	762	421
Kegalla	268839	25715	174375	1486	54319	9556	1317	479	382	-	269	941
Kegalla Local Board	3508	1355	1303	100	260	178	116	100	74	-	12	10
rural	208920	21837	171629	1153	3991	9202	683	153	133	-	8	131
estates	56411	2523	1443	233	50068	176	518	226	175	-	249	800
Kurunegala	354197	71917	245241	3117	16605	13236	2449	496	644	-	125	367
Kurunegala Local Board	10187	4133	2011	521	1238	798	725	263	418	-	53	27
Kuliyapitiya (*)	1520	656	342	110	92	158	103	27	16	-	7	9
rural balance	326707	62300	241403	2413	6201	12224	1607	120	139	-	24	276
estates	15783	4828	1485	73	9074	56	14	86	71	-	41	55
Mannar	25582	485	53	14851	2098	7760	242	67	3	-	4	19
Mannar Sanitary Board	3705	43	3	2479	156	938	43	39	-	-	3	1
rural	21877	442	50	12372	1942	6822	199	28	3	-	1	18
Matale	116584	8985	63333	1417	34963	5453	1473	312	342	-	207	99
Matale Local Board	7865	2057	1971	671	992	1430	415	136	130	-	32	31
rural	73900	5867	60555	622	2167	3836	679	53	94	-	5	22
estates	34819	1061	807	124	31804	187	379	123	118	-	170	46
Matara	238509	225326	369	383	4614	6976	112	482	91	-	89	67
Matara Local Board	16779	14140	47	150	189	1731	41	378	43	-	42	18
Weligama Sanitary Board	9104	7589	48	32	30	1391	-	4	-	-	3	7
rural	207296	202580	256	184	327	3820	11	60	29	-	22	7
estates	5330	1017	18	17	4068	34	60	40	19	-	22	35
Mullaittivu	18706	378	1837	14394	584	1330	15	104	-	50	5	9
Mullaittivu Sanitary Board	1563	14	2	1342	9	116	2	77	-	-	1	-
Vavuniya Town	936	66	19	683	77	65	4	14	-	-	1	7
rural	16138	298	1816	12308	495	1149	9	8	-	50	3	2
estates	69	-	-	61	3	-	-	5	-	-	-	-
Nuwara Eliya	167162	10993	47586	1610	101598	1699	1070	706	502	-	1115	283
Nuwara Eliya Board of Improvement	7525	2156	1165	238	2721	107	123	273	141	-	527	74
rural	54675	6685	43068	1163	1652	1309	355	171	138	-	62	72
estates	104962	2152	3353	209	97225	283	592	262	223	-	526	137
Puttalam	35610	8068	6994	5440	2337	11537	615	107	281	-	8	223
Puttalam Local Board	6905	1102	131	841	497	3788	208	67	209	-	6	56
Kalpitiya Sanitary Board	1608	176	5	212	89	945	136	12	33	-	-	-
rural	26426	6367	6813	4379	1605	6782	270	12	38	-	2	158
estates	671	423	45	8	146	22	1	16	1	-	-	9
Ratnapura	202975	22560	128525	1534	43774	3020	895	419	117	-	241	1890
Ratnapura Local Board	7014	2600	2684	243	411	695	129	121	26	-	42	63
Balangoda (*)	1010	383	288	54	95	120	39	14	-	-	1	16
rural balance	146354	16236	124501	1005	1986	2048	293	108	48	-	20	109
estates	48597	3341	1052	232	41282	157	434	176	43	-	178	1702
Trincomalee	34112	768	733	18138	448	12662	184	310	35	727	43	64
Trincomalee Local Board	9414	264	15	7580	166	942	107	265	28	-	13	34
rural	24551	477	687	10517	274	11687	77	44	2	727	29	30
estates	147	27	31	41	8	33	-	1	5	-	1	-
(in trains)	743	159	19	134	225	13	103	35	7	-	19	29
(in the Great and Little Basses)	8	6	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-

Source: Census publications, Ceylon, 1921. Volume I, Part I: Report on the Census of Ceylon, 1921 by L.J.B.Turner, M.A. (of the Ceylon Civil Service), Superintendent of Census and Director of Statistics, Ceylon, Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Colombo, 1924

for places listed as (*): Census of Ceylon 1946. Vol. I Part II: Statistical digest by A.G.Ranasinha, C.M.G., C.B.E., Superintendent of Census 1946. Colombo, 1951