Sri Lanka’s urbanisation has nearly tripled over the past two decades. A 2012 census estimated a population of 1.5 million within municipal boundaries in 2017 but The State of Sri Lankan Cities 2018 report reveals that cities had expanded at an average rate of 6.4 percent yearly and accounted for an estimated population of 7.4 million in 2017.

According to the report, this huge difference can be attributed to the urban sprawl as most of the urban development took place on the fringes and outside official municipal boundaries, which the official records did not capture. Therefore, a suggestion has been made to redefine ‘urban’ in terms of spatial features and revise municipal boundaries to incorporate fringe urban areas as well.