Lankan deaths rise while births fall

Ever since 2020, there has been a significant drop in the annual birth rate in Sri Lanka while annual deaths have increased, a senior official from the Registrar General’s Department told journalists.

Senior Deputy Registrar General, Attorney-at-Law Lakshika Ganepola said annual births were around 325,000 before 2020, but they have now decreased to around 280,000 in 2023.

Ganepola added that annual deaths have increased to around 180,000, while the number was around 140,000 before 2020.

The official said this trend will adversely affect the country’s population growth.

Independent observers said the situation was primarily due to family planning programmes introduced by the UNFPA in Sri Lanka from the early 1980s, when payments were made to those undergoing vasectomies and hysterectomies resulting in both males and females undergoing those procedures voluntarily to collect the stipend, especially among the poor Tamil and Sinhala families. (RK)