Births decline by 20%, deaths increase by 30% in SL

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Births in Sri Lanka have declined by 20% and deaths have increased by 30% following COVID, according to Professor Indralal de Silva.

Prof. Silva said so yesterday (15) at a policy dialogue on “Shaping the Future: Population Dynamics in Sri Lanka,” hosted by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Sri Lanka.

He said that it was unlikely that Sri Lankan Total Fertility Rate (TFR) would ever reach the replacement level of 2.1 percent in the foreseeable future.

Prof. De Silva said the situation should not be seen as something completely negative.

“This also means most couples have avoided unwanted pregnancies. Parents can also invest more resources in the babies they have.

We can have a high quality population. This is a matter of quality vs. quantity,” he said.

The demographer said that the population of elderly now stood at 3.6 million and that number would increase in the coming decades.

“If the elderly are healthy, they can work longer and accumulate wealth. We need to rethink the retirement age, improve the health span of people and social security,” he said.

Director General of Department of National Planning, Anuradha Kumarasiri, Director of the National STD/AIDS Control Programme, Dr Vindya Kumarapeli, and Head of Migration and Urbanisation Policy Research at the IPS, Dr. Bilesha Weeraratne also spoke at the event.