Religious Composition of Ethnic Groups - 1981
| Religion | SINHALESE | SRI LANKA TAMIL | INDIAN TAMIL | SRI LANKA MOOR | MALAY | BURGHER |
| Buddhist | 93.2 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 0.9 |
| Hindu | 0.1 | 80.7 | 90.0 | 6.6 | 3.4 | 0.4 |
| Muslim | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 92.6 | 89.2 | 1.6 |
| R/Catholic | 6.1 | 14.3 | 6.2 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 79.3 |
| Christian | 0.4 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 17.3 |
| Other | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2.5 | 0.5 |
| TOTAL | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
Ethnicity - 1981
| ETHNIC GROUP | NUMBER | PERCENTAGE |
| Sinhalese | 10,979,568 | 74.0 |
| Sri Lanka Tamil | 1,886,864 | 12.8 |
| Indian Tamil | 818,656 | 5.6 |
| Sri Lanka Moor | 1,046,927 | 7.0 |
| Malay | 46,963 | 0.3 |
| Burgher | 39,374 | 0.3 |
| TOTAL | 14,818,352 | 100.0 |
Population of Sri Lanka by Race - 1981
| RACE | NUMBER |
| Sinhalese (Low Country & Kandyan) |
11,027,000 |
| Sri Lanka Tamil | 1,752,000 |
| Indian Tamils | 1,031,000 |
| Sri Lanka Moor | 1,056,000 |
| Indian Moor | 29,000 |
| Malay | 50,000 |
| Burgher | 49,000 |
| Other | 16,000 |
| TOTAL | 15,010,000 |