Population below five meters above sea level — all countries

Population below five meters above sea level — Sri Lanka

Population below five meters above sea level in Sri Lanka in 2015 — 3.83%. Ranked 120 in the world out of 215. Since 1990, the indicator has fallen by 0.17 pp.

2015 3.83% −0.09 pp vs 2000
World rank 120of 215
Period maximum 4.01%1990
Period minimum 3.83%2015

Trend over time

1990–2015 · % of population

Population below five meters above sea level — Sri Lanka, 1990–20153.83.853.93.9544.051990199319961999200220052008201120141990: 4.01%2000: 3.92%2015: 3.83%
Change over the period: −0.17 pp Annual average: -0.01 pp

Comparison, 2015

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka 3.83%
World 4.06%
South Asia 2.56%
Southern Asia computed 2.2%
Population below five meters above sea level — Sri Lanka, by year Sri Lanka All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2015 3.83
2000 3.92
1990 4.01

Southern Asia, 2015

The same indicator for neighboring countries — with links to their pages

About the indicator

The share of the population living less than five meters above sea level. The threshold is not arbitrary: this is the zone already threatened by storm surges and, over the coming century, by sea level rise. In absolute numbers the densely populated deltas of Asia come first; by share, island states and the Netherlands — and the latter show that a high share does not equal high risk, since everything depends on whether coastal defenses are in place.

Important: The series is not annual: the World Bank computes it from a digital elevation model for individual benchmark years, the latest of which is 2015, and has not updated it since. No one has fresher data of this kind; the values are best read as an order-of-magnitude estimate.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.