Sri Lanka

The island of Sri Lanka is 65,610 km²,  and is densely populated with 21.8 million people . The location, lying 50 km south of India, gave the island a strategic importance as trade shipping routes opened up around the world. This afforded attention from a number of European powers. Sri Lanka was colonised by the Portuguese in the 16th century, replaced by Dutch powers in the 17th and 18th centuries, and then the British up to independence in 1948. There is a pluralistic legal system, where a residual Roman-Dutch Law operates next to a British-style parliament and a French-style presidency but with few safeguards against abuse of power.  Economically, Sri Lanka carries a lower-middle-income status under World Bank measures.  However, this clouds a high level of income inequality, where 40% of the population live on less than 225 Sri Lankan rupees (1.2 USD) per day, and 70% of labour lies in the informal sector, without access to social welfare.