Abstract:
This research held in Sri Lanka since the population growth has changed during 1970 – 2019 period due to
various factors. Factors influence on changes of population growth rate in any country is caused to create social
and economic problems. Then, if it has changed what factors are influencing, should be studied. Therefore, this
research aims to identify the reasonable factors behind the changes in Sri Lankan population growth rate through
around a half-century. Secondary data from the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) and annual data from
1970 to 2019 from official websites of the United Nations were used for the main analysis. Data processing and
analysis were performed by using descriptive-quantitative method and multiple regression analysis. The result of
this research indicates that changes of population growth rate in Sri Lanka is significantly affected by crude birth
rate, crude death rate and infant mortality rate. The multiple regression analysis had fitted a good model that
explains 95.5 percent of total variability of the population growth rate. The findings show that the decline of the
population growth rate was highly influenced by the decline of the crude birth rate. Therefore, the researcher
recommends that Sri Lankan government should take an action to aware of the people to increasing the fertility
rate of Sri Lanka. It should be implemented awareness programs related to fertility and reproductive health
among both males and females in reproductive age groups and make policies to re-structure the education system
in Sri Lanka.
