# India and Sri Lanka compared

India and Sri Lanka side by side: 43 shared sourced indicators across 9 domains, and the 5 events their chronicles record of each other.

Canonical: https://terralore.co/compare/ind-vs-lka
Updated: 2026-08-10 (latest of the two dossiers' refreshes and the two chronicles' verification dates)

Two sourced records set beside each other — nothing on this page was written for the pair. Every figure is the same observation, with the same source, as on the two national dossiers; every event is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle. Figures are compared, never graded. A "—" is an absence in the source data, never a zero; each value shows its own observation year — vintages differ by indicator and nation.

## Formation

- India: c. 320 BCE — Chandragupta Maurya founds the Maurya Empire
- Sri Lanka: 437 BCE — Pandukabhaya founds the Anuradhapura kingdom

## Economy

| Metric | India | Observed | Sri Lanka | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP | $3.91 T | 2024 | $99 B | 2024 |
| GDP per capita | $2,695 | 2024 | $4,516 | 2024 |
| GDP growth | 6.5% | 2024 | 5.0% | 2024 |
| Inflation | 5.0% | 2024 | -0.4% | 2024 |
| Trade openness | 44.6% | 2024 | 42.4% | 2024 |

## Society

| Metric | India | Observed | Sri Lanka | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1.45 bn | 2024 | 22 m | 2024 |
| Life expectancy | 72.2 yrs | 2024 | 77.7 yrs | 2024 |
| Urban population | 35.4% | 2024 | 20.3% | 2024 |
| Fertility rate | 2.0 | 2024 | 2.0 | 2024 |

## Governance

| Metric | India | Observed | Sri Lanka | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voice & accountability | 55.5 | 2024 | 54.6 | 2024 |
| Political stability | 52.5 | 2024 | 59.9 | 2024 |
| Government effectiveness | 59.2 | 2024 | 46.0 | 2024 |
| Regulatory quality | 53.3 | 2024 | 50.1 | 2024 |
| Rule of law | 56.3 | 2024 | 52.5 | 2024 |
| Control of corruption | 41.9 | 2024 | 40.1 | 2024 |

## Health

| Metric | India | Observed | Sri Lanka | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health spending | 3.3% | 2023 | 3.7% | 2023 |
| Physicians | 0.72 | 2020 | 1.14 | 2023 |
| Under-5 mortality | 26.6 | 2024 | 5.9 | 2024 |
| Measles immunisation | 97.0% | 2024 | 99.0% | 2024 |
| Safe drinking water | 76.4% | 2024 | 46.9% | 2024 |

## Education

| Metric | India | Observed | Sri Lanka | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult literacy | 78.2% | 2024 | 92.7% | 2024 |
| Education spending | 4.1% | 2022 | 1.8% | 2023 |
| Primary enrolment | 111.0% | 2025 | 91.5% | 2023 |
| Secondary enrolment | 79.6% | 2025 | 88.0% | 2023 |
| Tertiary enrolment | 34.4% | 2025 | 20.7% | 2023 |

## Technology

| Metric | India | Observed | Sri Lanka | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R&D spending | 0.6% | 2020 | 0.1% | 2022 |
| Researchers (per million) | 259 | 2020 | 94 | 2022 |
| Internet users | 70.0% | 2025 | 54.6% | 2024 |
| Mobile subscriptions | 79 | 2024 | 133 | 2024 |
| High-tech exports | 18.6% | 2024 | 1.5% | 2024 |

## Geography

| Metric | India | Observed | Sri Lanka | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Land area | 2,973,190 km² | 2023 | 61,860 km² | 2023 |
| Forest area | 24.5% | 2023 | 34.0% | 2023 |
| Agricultural land | 60.1% | 2023 | 48.6% | 2023 |
| CO₂ per capita (t) | 2.2 | 2024 | 1.1 | 2024 |
| Renewable energy | 34.9% | 2021 | 48.8% | 2021 |

## Resources

| Metric | India | Observed | Sri Lanka | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resource rents | 3.2% | 2021 | 0.1% | 2021 |
| Oil rents | 0.3% | 2021 | 0.0% | 2021 |
| Mineral rents | 1.3% | 2021 | 0.0% | 2021 |
| Forest rents | 0.2% | 2021 | 0.1% | 2021 |
| Electricity access | 99.5% | 2023 | 100.0% | 2023 |
| Copper (mined) | 23.0 kt | 2025 | — | — |
| Iron ore | 310 Mt | 2025 | — | — |
| Rare earths | 2,900 t | 2025 | — | — |
| Bauxite | 25 Mt | 2025 | — | — |
| Zinc (mined) | 870 kt | 2025 | — | — |
| Phosphate rock | 1.5 Mt | 2025 | — | — |

## Military

| Metric | India | Observed | Sri Lanka | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Military burden | 2.3% | 2024 | 1.4% | 2024 |
| Defense spending | $86 B | 2024 | $1.3 B | 2024 |
| Armed forces | 3.1 m | 2020 | 317,000 | 2020 |

Each metric is also ranked across all nations: https://terralore.co/rankings (markdown twins at /rankings/<metric>.md). Full dossiers: https://terralore.co/country/IND.md and https://terralore.co/country/LKA.md.

## Entangled histories (5 events)

Events in which either nation's sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the record exactly as its own chronicle carries it, with that chronicle's sources.

- from c. 2nd century BCE: **Hydraulic civilisation and South Indian invasions** — Anuradhapura's kings build vast reservoir-and-channel systems to irrigate the dry plain, while recurrent invasions from South India culminate in the Chola conquest and the abandonment of the capital around 1017. (from the Sri Lanka chronicle; sources: Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka; Sacred City of Anuradhapura)
- 1830s onward: **Plantation economy and Tamil labour migration** — British coffee and later tea estates transform the highlands; indentured South Indian Tamil labourers are brought in to work them, forming the Indian Tamil community of the plantation districts. (from the Sri Lanka chronicle; sources: Sri Lanka: History)
- 1949: **Indian Tamil plantation workers disenfranchised** — The estate workforce brought from South India is stripped of the vote a year after independence — the opening move of a nationalism that alienated the Tamil minority. (from the Sri Lanka chronicle; sources: Sri Lanka country profile)
- 1987: **The Indo-Lanka accords and the Indian peacekeepers** — Accords create new councils for the Tamil north and east and bring in an Indian peacekeeping force, which spends three years bogged down in the fighting it came to end. (from the Sri Lanka chronicle; sources: Sri Lanka country profile)
- 1990: **Indian withdrawal and the expulsion of northern Muslims** — Indian troops leave and the war escalates; the LTTE expels thousands of Muslims from the northern districts. (from the Sri Lanka chronicle; sources: Sri Lanka country profile)

## Sources

- World Development Indicators — World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-14 · https://data.worldbank.org
- Worldwide Governance Indicators (via World Bank API) — Worldwide Governance Indicators / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators
- Global Health Observatory (WHO, via World Bank WDI) — WHO / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.who.int/data/gho
- Child mortality & immunisation estimates (UN IGME and WHO/UNICEF, via World Bank WDI) — UNICEF and WHO / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://childmortality.org
- R&D statistics (UNESCO UIS, via World Bank WDI) — UNESCO Institute for Statistics / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-15 · https://uis.unesco.org
- ICT indicators (ITU, via World Bank WDI) — ITU / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-15 · https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics
- Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — U.S. Geological Survey · Public domain (U.S. Government work) · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center
- Military Expenditure Database (via World Development Indicators) — SIPRI / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-14 · https://www.sipri.org/databases/milex

Chronicle references are cited inline above and resolve in full at https://terralore.co/country/IND/chronicle.md and https://terralore.co/country/LKA/chronicle.md.

Citation template: Terralore, "India and Sri Lanka compared", terralore.co/compare/ind-vs-lka, retrieved <YYYY-MM-DD>.