Language literacy

What this dataset contains

The 2024 census final report provides language-literacy rates for people aged ten and over. District data include the eligible population, literacy in at least one of Sinhala, Tamil or English, and separate rates for each language. Age-group detail covers the three named languages. National rates by sex and ethnic-group rates provide 2012 and 2024 census benchmarks.

How it is used here

Compare district literacy rates, examine language differences across age groups, or compare the two recent census benchmarks by sex or ethnic group. Select the source table to avoid duplicate national observations.

What it cannot tell you

Literacy here means reading and writing a short passage with understanding. It does not measure speaking fluency or literacy in languages outside Sinhala, Tamil and English. A person can be literate in several languages, so language percentages overlap and cannot be added. Rates use people aged ten and over; each age, ethnic and geographic group has its own denominator. Rounded rates cannot be averaged without weights. National observations recur across tables. The historical comparison includes only the 2012 and 2024 benchmarks; intervening years are not estimated, and older censuses in the report are not presented as a continuous comparable series.