Sri Lanka’s Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) has released the Official Poverty Line for April 2026 at Rs. 17,117 per person per month — the minimum expenditure required for a single individual to meet basic food and non-food needs.
The highest district figure was recorded in Colombo at Rs. 18,461 per month, reflecting the higher cost of urban living, while Monaragala posted the lowest at Rs. 16,367. The DCS publishes the poverty line monthly and revises it in line with movements in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI), so the gap between districts and over time tracks cost-of-living shifts rather than a fixed welfare entitlement.
The DCS said the national poverty line continues to draw on the 2012/13 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, rebased to 2021. District-level lines have been re-estimated to adjust for inter-district price differences using the NCPI.
The April figure arrives as headline inflation has been edging back up. Colombo consumer prices rose 5.5% in May, and the Central Bank Governor on Monday warned that the rate could climb to 7% if the Middle East conflict and elevated fuel prices persist. NCPI inflation stood at 4.7% in April, the broader index against which the monthly poverty line is recalibrated.
Roughly 5.7 million Sri Lankans live below the poverty line according to the most recent census-based estimates, and the UNDP this year warned a further 8 million people across Asia-Pacific are at risk from compounded inflation and climate shocks — a backdrop that gives the monthly DCS series fresh policy weight as the government negotiates its IMF programme path and welfare targeting under Aswesuma.
The full DCS dataset is published at statistics.gov.lk/povertyLine/2021_Rebase.
Source: Newswire.
