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Social Development and Public Policy pp 139–189Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Sri Lanka’s Social Achievements and Challenges

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Abstract

Sri Lanka has been able to achieve and maintain social indicators which are unusually high relative to the level of its per capita income and economic development. Its GNP per capita, estimated at approximately US $640 in 1994 (World Bank, 1996) placed Sri Lanka among the 51 poorest countries in the world. Its average life expectancy, at 72 years, was well above that of countries with comparable incomes and was even higher than the average for the upper middle-income countries. Its infant mortality rate, at about 17 per thousand live births, and adult illiteracy, at 10 per cent, were also lower than the averages for the upper middle-income countries.

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Authors
  1. Godfrey Gunatilleke
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva, Switzerland

    Dharam Ghai (Director) (Director)

Copyright information

© 2000 United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

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Gunatilleke, G. (2000). Sri Lanka’s Social Achievements and Challenges. In: Ghai, D. (eds) Social Development and Public Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230374232_4

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