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District Statistical Handbook 2007 1. Population Characteristics
1.1 Population size, growth and density of population
The total population of Kalutara district is 1,066,239. The intercensal increase of population between 1981 and 2001 is 236,535 persons or 28.5 percent. The growth rate of the district is 1.2 percent per annum during the above period. The highest population is reported from Panadura divisional secretary's division and it is 163,492. The population of Madurawala divisional secretary's division is 29,750 and it is the divisional secretary's division with lowest population. The urban sector of Kalutara district comprised of Panadura Urban Council, Horana Urban Council, Kalutara Urban Council and Beruwala Urban Council. The population of urban area is 113,188 and it is 10.6 percent of the total population.
Kalutara district has a land area of 1,576 square kilometres (sq.km). It has a population density of 677 persons per sq.km. The value was 516 persons per sq.km according to the census 1981. The population density of the urban area is 4,716 per sq.km.
1.2 Age-Sex composition
Age-sex composition of a population describes the pattern of the distribution of people in different age and sex categories. It is determined by the past trends of fertility, mortality and migration, which are the components of population change. Figure 1 shows the age pyramid for Kalutara district, which shows the distribution of population by 5 year age groups and sex.
Figure 1: Age Pyramid
One prominent feature of the age pyramid is the gradual decline in the population below 20 with slight increase in 0 - 4 age group compared to immediately preceding age groups. The decline is mainly attributable to declining fertility levels. The highest population is seen in 20 - 24 age group for both sexes. But it was reported for 0 - 4 age group in 1981. The population is conveniently divided into three broad age groups; young (0-14 years), working age (15-59 years) and old age (60 years and over). Percentages of these age groups are shown in Table A together with the corresponding data for 1981.
Table A: Percentage distribution of population by broad age group
It is clearly seen that the proportion of young population has declined significantly by 9.0 percentage points during 1981 - 2001; on the other hand the proportion of old age population has increased by 2.7 percentage points. Working age population too shows an increase. The ratio of the population in the age groups 0-14 years and 60 years and over, to the population in the age group 15-59 years is called dependency ratio. It is an approximation of the average number of dependents that each person of working age must support. This is 55.7 percent in 2001. The corresponding value for Kalutara in 1981 was 72.6 percent. So, there is a significant decline in dependency ratio during 1981-2001 period.
In Kalutara district, the total number of females outnumber the males by 11,677. Sex ratio, which is defined as the number of males per 100 females, is 97.8. It was 99.2 according to the previous census of 1981.
1.3 Ethnic Composition
The distribution of the population by major ethnic groups is shown in Table B and Figure 2.
Table B: Percentage distribution of population by ethnicity
Figure 2 : Percentage distribution of population by ethnicity
In Kalutara district, Sinhalese, Sri Lanka Tamil, Indian Tamil and Sri Lanka Moor population comprises of 87.1 percent, 1.2 percent, 2.7 percent and 8.8 percent respectively. Comparison with the corresponding 1981 census figures reveals that the percentage decreased very marginally for Sinhalese while the percentage of Sri Lanka Tamil population remains unchanged. Indian Tamil population declined by 1.4 percentage points. On the other hand an increase of 1.4 percentage points is recorded among Sri Lanka Moors during 1981 - 2001.
1.4 Religious Composition
The distribution of the population by major religion is shown in Table C and Figure 3.
Table C: Percentage distribution of population by Religion
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