Kurunegala (District)

Kurunegala ; District කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ; குருநாகல் மாவட்டம
Province :	Northwest Province
Administrative headquarters :	Kurunegala
Area :	4,816 km²
of which land area:	4,624 km²
of which inland waters:	192 km²
Residents :	1618465
Population density :	350 inhabitants / km²
Website :	District website

7.483333 80.366667Coordinates: 7 ° 29 ' N , 80 ° 22' E

Kurunegala ( Sinhala කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්රික්කය Kurunegala distrikkaya ; Tamil குருநாகல் மாவட்டம Kurunākal māvaṭṭam ) is a district in the North West Province in Sri Lanka . The main town is Kurunegala .

geography

The Kurunegala District is located in the west of Sri Lanka and belongs to the Northwest Province . Neighboring districts are Anuradhapura in the north and northeast, Matale in the east, Kandy in the southeast, Kegalle in the south, Gampaha in the southwest and Puttalam in the west.

The Kurunegala District has an area of 4,816 square kilometers (of which 4,624 square kilometers are land and 192 square kilometers are inland water). This makes it the third largest district in Sri Lanka in terms of area.

population

According to the 2012 census, the Kurunegala district has 1,618,465 inhabitants. With 350 inhabitants per square kilometer, the population density is slightly above the average for Sri Lanka (325 inhabitants per square kilometer). Of the residents, 777,201 (48.02%) were male and 841,264 (51.98%) were female. The population is very young. This is illustrated by a look at the age distribution.

Age	0–9 years	10–19 years	20-29 years	30–39 years	40-49 years	50–59 years	60–79 years	80 years and more
number	272.291	244,736	226.157	243,682	219.996	201.052	188.058	22,493
proportion of	16.82%	15.12%	13.97%	15.06%	13.59%	12.42%	11.62%	1.39%

District population by ethnic group

The Sinhalese make up the majority of the population of the Kurunegala district. But there are large minorities of other ethnic groups.

Sinhalese

More than 90% of the residents belong to the Sinhalese ethnic group . They are a clear majority in all divisions. The Kuliyapitiya East division (only 68.01% Sinhalese) is ethnically mixed. The Sinhala population ranges from 68.01% in Kuliyapitiya East to 99.80% in Polpithigama.

Moors

The second largest ethnic group and thus the largest minority are the Moors or Tamil-speaking Muslims. They form strong minorities in the divisions Kuliyapitiya East (31.41% Moors), Rasnayakapura (18.78%), Mallawapitiya (14.55%), Panduwasnuwara (13.11%), Mawathagama (11.61%), Rideegama (11.17%), Kurunegala (10.76%), Kobeigane (10.69%) and Udubaddawa (10.29%) each with over ten percent of the population. In three of the 30 divisions, however, only a few members of their ethnic group live. Their share ranges from 0.01% in Alawwa to 31.41% in Kuliyapitiya East.

Sri Lankan Tamils

The Sri Lankan Tamils are the third largest ethnic group. However, they are only a tiny minority everywhere. Their share ranges between 0.05% in Kotavehera and 4.73% in Mawathagama.

Other ethnic groups

The Indian-born Tamils, Malays and Burghers, Sri Lankan Chetties and Bharathas are small minorities. They live scattered in all divisions of Kurunegala District

year	Sinhalese ¹		Sri Lankan Tamils ²		Tamils ²		Moors ³		Burgher		Malays		Others ⁴		Total
year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
1981	1,125,912	92.91%	14,930	1.23%	6,616	0.55%	60,791	5.02%	562	0.05%	1,259	0.10%	1,741	0.14%	1,211,801	100.00%
2001	1,341,237	91.85%	17,585	1.20%	2,972	0.20%	94,544	6.47%	613	0.04%	2,150	0.15%	1,114	0.08%	1,460,215	100.00%
2012	1,479,863	91.44%	18,041	1.11%	2,594	0.16%	115,302	7.12%	663	0.04%	1,220	0.08%	782	0.05%	1,618,465	100.00%
Source: Sri Lanka censuses in 1981, 2001 and 2012

¹ Lowland and Kandy Sinhalese together ² Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils separately ³ only Sri Lankan moors ⁴ thereof 2001 221 Sri Lanka Chetties and 67 Bharathas, 2012 119 Sri Lanka Chetties and 40 Bharathas

Population of the district by confession

The distribution of creeds is largely a reflection of ethnic relationships. The Buddhism is the largest religious group because of the Sinhalese majority. But more than 40,000 Sinhalese and over 5,000 Tamils belong to the Christian minority. This is particularly evident in the Bingiriya and Udubaddawa divisions. There are 96.29% resp. 88.48% of the total Sinhalese population (and only a few Tamils). But there are 11.14% resp. 15.23% of the population is Christians . Despite numerous returnees - from Christianity to Buddhism - by Sinhalese in the past two hundred years, Christianity is therefore still the third most powerful religion to this day. The Hinduism , which belongs to the majority of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, is only the fourth largest religious community in the district of Kurunegala. Clearly in second place is Islam , to which the Moors and Malays belong.

year	Buddhists		Hindus		Muslims		Catholics		other Christs		Other		Total
year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
1981	1,092,128	90.12%	15,133	1.25%	64.112	5.29%	36,340	3.00%	3,641	0.30%	447	0.04%	1,211,801	100.00%
2001	1,300,539	89.06%	13.303	0.91%	98.223	6.73%	40,680	2.79%	6,960	0.48%	510	0.03%	1,460,215	100.00%
2012	1,431,632	88.46%	14,721	0.91%	118,305	7.31%	43,711	2.70%	9,926	0.61%	170	0.01%	1,618,465	100.00%
Source: Sri Lanka censuses in 1981, 2001 and 2012

Population development

The population of the Kurunegala district has grown at an above-average rate for Sri Lankan standards since independence. In the period from 2001 to 2012 (the last two census years) the increase was 158,250 people. This is a growth of 10.84%. Since independence, the population has increased by 234%.

Significant places

The only large towns in the district are Kurunegala (2012: 24,833 inhabitants) and Kuliyapitiya (2012: 5,509 inhabitants).

Local administration

The head of the district holds the title of District Secretary. The district is further divided into 30 divisions (under a Division Secretary). The cities and larger towns have their own administration (municipal parliament or council). There are 1,610 village administrations (Grama Niladharis) for the 4,432 villages in the entire district.

The DS Divisions in Kurunegala District
Surname	main place	Residents 2012	Area in km²	density	GN	Villages
Alawwa	Alawwa	63,667	128	497	66	124
Ambanpola	Ambanpola	22,878	139	165	28	122
Bamunakotuwa	Bamunakotuwa	36,217	100	362	36	125
Bingiriya	Bingiriya	62,349	207	301	52	149
Ehetuwewa	Ehetuwewa	25,781	180	143	35	152
Galgamuwa	Galgamuwa	55,078	278	198	62	189
Ganewatta	Ganewatta	40,137	148	271	42	146
Giribawa	Giribawa	31,412	201	156	35	72
Ibbagamuwa	Ibbagamuwa	85,309	210	406	74	188
Kobeigane	Kobeigane	35,975	127	283	35	132
Kotawehera	Kotawehera	21,263	184	116	31	90
Kuliyapitiya East	Nakkawatta	54,062	121	447	45	139
Kuliyapitiya West		77,316	165	469	68	146
Kurunegala	Kurunegala	80,755	101	800	54	125
Mahawa	Mahawa	57,485	258	223	68	220
Mallawapitiya	Mallawapitiya	52,634	75	702	45	99
Maspotha	Maspotha	34,262	58	591	33	72
Mawathagama	Mawathagama	64,904	107	607	71	167
Narammala	Narammala	56,279	110	512	54	125
Nikaweratiya	Nikaweratiya	40,452	158	256	42	101
Panduwasnuwara	Hettipola	63,742	161	396	64	227
Panduwasnuwara East	Katupotha	32,386	101	321	39	118
Pannala	Pannala	124.225	275	452	87	207
Polgahawela	Polgahawela	65,156	95	686	84	198
Polpithigama	Polpithigama	76.139	387	197	82	283
Rasnayakapura	Rasnayakapura	21,893	123	178	28	79
Rideegama	Ridigama	88.714	212	418	113	262
Udubaddawa	Udubaddawa	52,231	130	402	43	93
Wariyapola	Wariyapola	61,425	181	339	56	178
Wirambugedara	Wirambugedara	34,339	95	361	38	104
Kurunegala District	Kurunegala	1,618,465	4,624	350	1,610	4,432

Individual evidence

Web links

Website of the district (English)

[1] Final result of the 2012 census

[2] Map of the ethnic distribution after the 2012 census

[3] Kurunegala district data based on the 2012 census

[4] Map of religious distribution after the 2012 census

[5] Kurunegala district data based on the 2012 census

[6] Kurunegala District Handbook 2013, Table 1.1

[7] Map of the inhabitants by division

[8] Kurunegala District Handbook 2013, Table 1.5