Districts (, ) are the second level administrative divisions of Sri Lanka, preceded by provinces. Sri Lanka has 25 districts organized into 9 provinces. Districts are further divided into a number of divisional secretariats (commonly known as D.S. divisions), which are in turn subdivided into 14,022 grama niladhari divisions. There are 331 DS divisions in Sri Lanka.
Each district is administered by a district secretary, who is appointed by the central government. The main tasks of the district secretariat involve coordinating communications and activities of the central government and divisional secretariats. The district secretariat is also responsible for implementing and monitoring development projects at the district level and assisting lower-level subdivisions in their activities, as well as revenue collection and coordination of elections in the district.
History The country was first divided into several administrative units during the Anuradhapura Kingdom. The kingdom was divided into three provinces; Rajarata, Ruhuna and Malaya Rata. These were further subdivided into smaller units called rata. Over time, the number of provinces increased, but the second-level administrative division continued to be the rata. However, with the country eventually being divided into more than one kingdom and with foreign colonial missions landing and taking parts of the country under their control, this structure began to change. The territory of the Kotte Kingdom was organized into four , which were further subdivided into forty . The had their own civil and military officials with a small militia. The Jaffna kingdom appears to have had a similar administrative structure to this with four provinces.
When the Portuguese took over parts of the country after their arrival in 1505, they maintained more or less the same administrative structure followed by Sri Lankan rulers. During the Dutch rule in the country, the terrain under their control was divided into three administrative divisions. These were subdivided into as in earlier systems. The British initially continued this system, but following reforms in 1796 to 1802, the country was divided according to ethnic composition. This was abolished by the Colebrook–Cameron reforms in 1833 and a legislative council was created, making the island a politically and administratively single unit. Five provinces were created, later expanded into nine, and these were subdivided into twenty-one districts. These districts were administered by officials known as Government Agents or Assistant Government Agents.
In 1955, the district replaced the province as the country's main administrative unit. The Ampara District was created in April 1961, followed by the creation of the Mullaitivu and Gampaha districts in September 1978 through a new constitution, which also reintroduced the provinces as the main administrative units. The newest district to be created was the Kilinochchi district in February 1984, and the current constitution states that the territory of Sri Lanka consists of 25 administrative districts. These districts may be subdivided or amalgamated by a resolution of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
Districts All population data is from the most recent census of Sri Lanka, in 2012.
District Area map Province District capital Land area in km2 (mi2) Inland water area in km2 (mi2) Total area in km 2 (mi2) Population (2012) Population density per km2(per mi2)Ampara EasternAmpara 649,402 Anuradhapura North CentralAnuradhapura 860,575 Badulla UvaBadulla 815,405 Batticaloa EasternBatticaloa 526,567 Colombo WesternColombo 2,324,349 Galle SouthernGalle 1,063,334 Gampaha WesternGampaha 2,304,833 Hambantota SouthernHambantota 599,903 Jaffna NorthernJaffna 583,882 Kalutara WesternKalutara 1,221,948 Kandy CentralKandy 1,375,382 Kegalle SabaragamuwaKegalle 840,648 Kilinochchi NorthernKilinochchi 113,510 Kurunegala North WesternKurunegala 1,618,465 Mannar NorthernMannar 99,570 Matale CentralMatale 484,531 Matara SouthernMatara 814,048 Monaragala UvaMonaragala 451,058 Mullaitivu NorthernMullaitivu 92,238 Nuwara Eliya CentralNuwara Eliya 711,644 Polonnaruwa North CentralPolonnaruwa 406,088 Puttalam North WesternPuttalam 762,396 Ratnapura SabaragamuwaRatnapura 1,088,007 Trincomalee EasternTrincomalee 379,541 Vavuniya NorthernVavuniya 172,115 Total 20,359,439
See also ISO 3166-2:LK
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