Mullaitivu District (, ; , ) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary (previously known as a Government Agent) appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the town of Mullaitivu.

History Parts of present-day Mullaitivu District were ruled by the pre-colonial Jaffna kingdom. The district then came under Portuguese, Dutch and British control. In 1815 the British gained control of the entire island of Ceylon. They divided the island into three ethnic based administrative structures: Low Country Sinhalese, Kandyan Sinhalese and Tamil. The district, which was then part of Vanni District, was part of the Tamil administration. In 1833, in accordance with the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission, the ethnic based administrative structures were unified into a single administration divided into five geographic provinces. Vanni District, together with Jaffna District and Mannar District, formed the new Northern Province.

Vanni District was later renamed Mullaitivu District and then Vavuniya District. The district was colonised in the second half of the 18th century by residents from Jaffna Peninsula, primarily from Alaveddy, Udupiddy and Navaly. At the time that Ceylon gained independence, Vavuniya was one of the three districts located in the Northern Province. Mullaitivu District was carved out of the northern part of Vavuniya District together with parts of the then Jaffna District, Mannar District and Trincomalee District in September 1978.

Mullaitivu District was under the control of rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for many years during the civil war. The district was recaptured by the Sri Lankan military in early 2009.

Geography Mullaitivu District is located in the north east of Sri Lanka in the Northern Province. It has an area of .

Administrative units Mullaitivu District is divided into 6 Divisional Secretary's Division (DS Divisions), each headed by a Divisional Secretary (previously known as an Assistant Government Agent). The DS Divisions are further sub-divided into 136 Grama Niladhari Divisions (GN Divisions).

DS Division Main TownDivisional SecretaryGNDivisions Area(km2) Population (2012 Census) PopulationDensity(/km2)Sri LankanTamil Sinhalese IndianTamil Sri Lankan Moors Other TotalManthai East Pandiyankulam N.Ranjana 15 515 6,277 10 634 8 0 6,929 Maritimepattu Mullaitivu M.Umamagal 46 744 25,976 1,071 150 1,678 34 28,909 Oddusuddan Oddusuddan P.Jeyarani 27 639 14,158 792 51 31 15,658 Puthukkudiyiruppu Puthukkudiyiruppu S.jeyakanth 19 371 23,480 50 215 19 6 23,770 Thunukkai Thunukkai A.Lathumeera 20 344 9,180 157 391 2 2 9,732 Weli Oya (Manal Aru) Ehatugaswewa 9 180 10 6,937 0 2 0 6,949 Total 136 2,617 79,081 8,851 2,182 1,760 73 91,947 35

Demographics

Population Mullaitivu District's population was 91,947 in 2012. The population of the district is mostly Sri Lankan Tamil.

The population of the district, like the rest of the north and east of Sri Lanka, has been heavily affected by the civil war. The war killed an estimated 100,000 people. Several hundred thousand Sri Lankan Tamils, possibly as many as one million, emigrated to India or to the West during the war. Many Sri Lankan Tamils also moved to the relative safety of the capital Colombo. Most of the Sri Lankan Moors and Sinhalese who lived in the district fled to other parts of Sri Lanka or were forcibly expelled by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, though most of them have returned to the district since the end of the civil war.

Ethnicity + Population of Mullaitivu District by ethnic group 1981 to 2012 Year Tamil Sinhalese Muslim Other TotalNo.No. % No. % No. % No. %1981 Census 69,670 89.88% 3,948 5.09% 3,777 4.87% 117 0.15% 77,5121999 Estimate n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 184,6552000 Estimate n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 187,2812001 Estimate n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 180,4012002 Estimate n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 144,9592003 Estimate 140,556 99.92% 23 0.02% 49 0.03% 47 0.03% 140,6752004 Estimate 152,724 99.83% 0 0.00% 237 0.15% 29 0.02% 152,9902005 Estimate 157,410 99.77% 0 0.00% 365 0.23% 0 0.00% 157,7752006 Estimate 214,713 99.75% 1 0.00% 547 0.25% 0 0.00% 215,2612007 Estimate 220,117 99.91% 1 0.00% 193 0.09% 0 0.00% 220,3112008 Estimate 51,737 99.99% 0 0.00% 4 0.01% 0 0.00% 51,7412009 Estimate 36,741 100.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 36,7412011 Enumeration 60,136 90.39% 3,966 5.96% 2,390 3.59% 34 0.05% 66,5262012 Census 81,263 88.38% 8,851 9.63% 1,760 1.91% 73 0.08% 91,947

Religion + Population of Mullaitivu District by religion 1981 to 2012Year Hindu Christian Buddhist Muslim Others TotalNo.No. % No.% No. % No. % No. %1981 Census 60,117 77.88% 12,211 15.82% 1,060 1.37% 3,789 4.91% 12 0.02% 77,1892012 Census 69,628 75.73% 11,989 13.04% 8,155 8.87% 2,013 2.19% 162 0.18% 91,947

Poverty In 2016 the district was one of the poorest in Sri Lanka and had the second-highest incidence of extreme poverty according to the World Bank.

Politics and government

Local government

Mullaitivu District has four local authorities, all of which are Divisional Councils (Pradesha Sabhai or Pradeshiya Sabha).

Local Authority Area(km2) Population(2011) RegisteredElectors(2011) Elected Members(2011)TNA UPFA Total Manthai East Divisional Council 494.0 6,715 5,578 6 3 9Maritimepattu Divisional Council 728.6 25,405 Puthukkudiyiruppu Divisional Council 968.0 22,110 Thunukkai Divisional Council 326.3 9,126 5,227 7 2 9Total 2,516.9 63,356 13 5 18

Notes

References

External links

Mullaitivu District Secretariat