No census in North after 1981

Enumeration of Vital Events, 2011, Northern Province, Sri Lanka published by the Department of Census and Statistics which functions under the purview of Finance and Planning Ministry has proved the truth through actual statistics on Northern residents. The statistics had been collected by educated Tamil officials and graduates, acting Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet press briefing at the Government Information Department, the acting minister said that a census was not conducted in the North after 1981 due to war and terrorism.

"The last census was in 1981. Some NGOs claimed that around 40,000 Tamil civilians who lived in the North were killed during the humanitarian operation. Statistics have been proved that they live in Colombo and other parts of the country. Only 7,927 had been killed in 2011 due to the war. The total population in the North is 997,754 (2011) and 83,274 persons emmigrated to other parts of Sri Lanka. Out of this, 26,927 had been gone abroad," he said quoting page 17 of the publication.

The acting minister pointed out that the total population in Jaffna in 2011 was 567,229. "Out of this, 746 are Sinhalese, 1,874 Muslims and 3,550 Indian Tamils. A total of 560,905 are Sri Lankan Tamils. Only 4,081 families are to be re-settled. Over 90 percent of children between the ages of five and 14 are engaged in studies in schools. The highest percentage of children attending school ( 92.9 percent) is reported from Kilinochchi. The percentage of children schooling in Vavuniya is 91.4. Mullaitivu records 91.3 percent of children attending school. There are 249,842 housing units in the Northern province. Out of this, owners live in 187,226 housing units while 20,841 are rented to others," Abeywardena said.

The census for 2009 was conducted from June 10 to August 15, 2011. It was conducted by Tamil state officials, graduates and teachers living in Jaffna. They did not go to Jaffna from Colombo to conduct the census. No Armed Forces members participated in it. Information on dead and disappeared persons were provided only by their family members. A total of 2,455 person had died and 231 had disappeared from 1972 to 2008. The number of dead Armed Forces members from 1981 to 2009 is 2,585, the acting minister added.