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Sri Lanka's population is a colourful mosaic of different ethnic and religious groups. The Sinhalese people form the largest ethnic group in the nation, composing approximately 74% of the total population. Sri Lankan Tamils form 18% of the population, and are concentrated mainly in the northeastern part of the country. "Indian Origin" Tamils, brought from India as indentured labourers by British colonists to work on estate plantations, are distinguished from the native Tamil population that has resided in Sri Lanka since ancient times. These "Indian Origin" Tamils still reside mainly in Sri Lanka's hill country where Tea is grown. There is a significant population of Muslims, who trace their lineage to Arab traders and immigrants and they are concentrated in the eastern provinces. There are also small ethnic groups such as the Burghers, of mixed European descent, and Malay people. Sri Lanka also has a unique community of indigenous people called the Veddahs. They are believed to be the first inhabitants of Sri Lanka and are thought to be related to the aborigines of Australia, the Nicobar Islands and Malaysia.

As a result of its ethnic diversity, Sri Lanka also is home to various religious faiths and is one of the few countries to celebrate every religious holiday as a national holiday. Buddhism is considered the official religion of Sri Lanka. The school of Buddhism followed in the country is the Theravada School and it was first brought to Sri Lanka in 2nd century BC by Mahinda, the son of Ashoka, the Indian emperor of that time. Buddhism is an important part of Sinhalese culture and the two are strongly linked. Hinduism is practiced by 18% of the population, whom are almost exclusively Tamil-speaking, as well as immigrants from India and Pakistan such as the Sindhis, Telugus and Malayalees. Hinduism is dominant in the Northeastern province, where Tamil people are in significant numbers. Christianity is practiced by 7-8% of the population, especially by the Portuguese and Dutch Burgher people. The Portuguese first brought Christianity to the island in 1618 when many Tamil Hindus and Sinhala Buddhists were encouraged to convert to Catholicism. While most Sri Lankan Christians are Catholics, there are also significant numbers who adhere to Dutch Reformed Church and the Anglican Communion. A significant portion of Sri Lanka's population is Muslim. The Muslims of Sri Lanka claim descendancy from the Arab traders who made Sri Lanka their home even before the advent of Islam. They can be categorized into two groups, the Moors and the Malays.

For a small island, Sri Lanka has quite a large population of 19.8 million and its adult literacy rate is a little over 86%. The life expectancy is 70 years for men and 75.4 years for women. Sinhala and Tamil are both the official languages of the nation, with 80% speaking Sinhalese and 18% speaking Tamil.

The Veddahs, also called the Wanniyala-aetto or the People of the Forest, are the original inhabitants of the country. The exact numbers of this unique group are highly disputed today. Some reports count as few as 200 Veddahs in Sri Lanka, while others suggest a collection of communities, including Sinhalese and Tamil speaking groups, numbering in the thousands. Some even believe that due to inter-marriage and integration into Sinhalese culture, the Veddahs no longer exist and can no longer claim to be a distinct ethnic group. Only a small and diminishing number of people identifying themselves as Veddah have retained a semblance of their old culture, stressing a hunting lifestyle and maintaining close relationships with nature and their ancestors. Although Sinhalese legends characterise the Veddahs as partly descended from evil spirits, the Veddahs are related to South Indian tribes such as the Vedas of Kerala and even thought to be related to the aborigines of Australia.

The actual origins of the Sinhalese are shrouded in myth. Most believe they came to Sri Lanka from northern India during the 6th century BC. According to their tradition, the Sinhalese people trace their origins back to the union of a lion, or a "sinha", and a North Indian princess, whose descendants became the bloodline of Sinhalese Royalty.

Buddhism arrived from the subcontinent 300 years later and spread rapidly. Buddhism and a sophisticated system of irrigation became the pillars of classical Sinhalese civilization (200 BC-1200 AD) that flourished in the north-central part of the island. The Sinhala language is related to Sanskrit, as is Hindi. The first Sri Lankan kingdom had its capital at Tambapanni, but later shifted to Upatissagama and then to Anuradhapura. The Buddhist religion reinforces the solidarity of the Sinhalese as an ethnic community. In 1988 approximately 93 percent of the Sinhala speakers were Buddhists, and 99.5 percent of the Buddhists in Sri Lanka spoke Sinhala. The most popular Sinhalese folklore, literature, and rituals teach children from an early age the uniqueness of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, the long relationship between Buddhism and the culture and politics of the island.

It is not known when Tamils first settled in Sri Lanka; early settlements occurred in the aftermath of repeated South Indian invasions (ca. 1st to 13th centuries A.D.), and Tamil-speaking fishing folk doubtless settled along the northern and eastern seacoasts at an early date. By the 13th century, there is firm evidence of the rise of a significant Tamil-Hindu social formation in the Jaffna Peninsula, complete with a Hindu king and a palace, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Sinhala Kingdoms in the dry zone areas. The Portuguese subdued the last Hindu king in 1619, destroyed hundreds of Hindu shrines, and forced many of the population to convert to Roman Catholicism. http://www.tamilnation.org/conferences/cnfUS91/

About 9% of Sri Lanka's total population is Muslim. Their presence goes back at least 1000 years and are probably descendants of Arab or Indian Muslim traders. They are scattered all over the island, perhaps more thinly in the South and North, and are known to be mostly involved in trade and business. The Malays are a smaller group of Muslims whose ancestors mostly came with the Dutch from Java. Many of them still speak Malay and there's a concentration of them in Hambantota. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Sri_Lanka & Lonely planet.