The Department of Census and Statistics says the Western Province, which is the epicentre to majority of the key activities of the Sri Lankan economy, continued to be the largest contributor to the national output representing 42.6 per cent of the nominal GDP (base year 2015) in 2021, with a marginal increase in its share on year-on-year basis.
The Department said North Western (11.1 per cent) and Central (10.1 per cent) provinces recorded second and third highest shares, respectively.
It noted that contribution to nominal GDP from Western, Sabaragamuwa and North Western provinces increased in 2021 compared to 2020, while that of Southern, Northern and Uva provinces remained unchanged.
However, contributions from Central, Eastern and North Central provinces decreased marginally in 2021.
In terms of provincial contribution to economic activities, North Western province recorded the highest contribution to Agriculture activities with a share of 17.6 per cent followed by Southern (14.3 per cent) and Central (13.0 per cent) provinces.
The Department said the Western province continued to secure the highest shares of Industry activities with a contribution of 48.2 per cent during 2021.
North Western (11.5 per cent) and Central provinces (9.5 per cent) were the second and third largest contributors to the overall Industry activities. With regard to Services activities, Western province contributed the most with a share of 44.7 per cent followed by Central (10.0 per cent), North Western (9.8 per cent) and Southern (9.8 per cent) provinces.
The composition of economic activities within provinces in 2021 highlights that Services activities played a major role contributing for more than 50 per cent of GDP of each province, except for North Western (48.6 per cent) and Eastern (48.0 per cent) provinces.
The largest concentration of Industry activities was observed in Western province (33.7 per cent) followed by North Western (31.1 per cent) and Eastern (30.6 per cent) provinces.
In terms of Agriculture activities, concentration was highest in North Central province (19.9 per cent) and lowest in Western province (2.1 per cent) during the year.
