Sri Lankan expatriates
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 3,000,000+ (estimated) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Saudi Arabia
|
600,000 (2013) |
 United Kingdom
|
~500,000 (2011) |
 United Arab Emirates
|
300,000 (2012) |
 Kuwait
|
300,000 (2009) |
 Canada
|
300,000 (2010) |
 India
|
~200,000 |
 France
|
150,000 (2010) |
 Australia
|
103,772 (2011) |
 Qatar
|
100,000 (2011) |
 Lebanon
|
100,000 (2010) |
 Germany
|
60,000 (2012) |
 Switzerland
|
55,000 (2010) |
 Italy
|
102,000 (2015) |
 United States
|
45,159 (2010) |
 South Korea
|
20,000 (2011) |
 Japan
|
20,000 (2011) |
 Norway
|
13,772 (2010) |
 Denmark
|
13,396 (2010) |
 Netherlands
|
10,346 (2010) |
 Israel
|
7,500 (2011) |
 New Zealand
|
11,274 (2013) |
 Sweden
|
6,733 (2010) |
| Languages | |
| Sinhala, Tamil, other languages of Sri Lanka and various languages of the countries they inhabit | |
| Religion | |
| Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Sri Lankan | |
|
Populations stated are the maximum estimated United States population, Foreign born stated only |
|
The Sri Lankan diaspora are Sri Lankan emigrants from Sri Lanka, and their descendants, that reside in a foreign country. They number a total estimated population of around 3 Million. The vast majority of the Sri Lankans abroad are Sinhalese followed by the Sri Lankan Tamils.
Expatriate workers to Sri Lankan have been a valuable export for the country. The number of expatriate workers have been ever growing as well as the remittances they send back. In 2009 Sri Lankans sent home US$3.3 billion a US$400 million increase from the year before. It is expected that 2010 would exceed US$4 billion. In mid-2010 there were more than 1.8 million Sri Lankan expatriate workers.
In Australia, under the White Australia policy, immigration was negligible. It resumed after the Second World War primarily involving migration of Burghers, who fulfilled the then criteria that they should be of predominantly European ancestry and that their appearance should be European. Sinhalese migration began in the 1960s but it was after the mid-1970s that large groups arrived, which also included Christians and Buddhists. Sri Lankan students undertook courses in Australia as part of the Colombo Plan prior to the formal dismantling of the White Australia policy, and after 1973, Sinhalese, Tamil and Moor migration resumed.
The rate of assimilation among Sri Lankan Australians is fairly high: among second-generation immigrants, the 'in-marriage' rate was extremely low - 5.6% for women and 3.0% for men.
In 1979 there were only 6 Sri Lankans living in Bermuda. As of 2005 there are an estimated 400 living and working there.
Sri Lankan Canadians include members from all ethnicities of Sri Lanka, they are mainly concentrated in the cities of Toronto and Montreal, in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. As of 2006 there are 103,625 Sri Lankans in Canada.
There are tens of thousands of Sri Lankans in the United States from all different backgrounds. In the 1990s the number was about 14,448, however this has grown significantly. Sri Lankan American communities are mainly situated in large metropolitan areas. The New York City Metropolitan Area contains the largest Sri Lankan community in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Sri Lankan immigrant population, followed by Central New Jersey and the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Little Sri Lanka in the Tompkinsville neighborhood of the borough of Staten Island in New York City is one of the largest Sri Lankan communities outside of the country of Sri Lanka itself.
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Wikipedia