Following the news, or being stuck in the daily grind, or being caught in the usual doom and gloom conversation would lead you to believe that things are perpetually at ‘suck’ for Sri Lankans. But is this really the case? As modern Sri Lanka turns 68, we looked at a few of the many things that make us proud as Sri Lankans. Photos of the Sri Lankan flags by the amazing Nazly

7. Democracy

Sri Lanka was a “pilot project” in autonomy and universal adult franchise in the British Empire, starting with the Donoughmore Constitution (1931 – 1947). This means Sri Lanka has had “one person, one vote” for 85 years now, making it the oldest democracy in Asia.

6. Infrastructure

Sri Lanka’s national electrification ratio is 94%, up from 70% in 2005. While we have low fixed line penetration (thanks, SLT!), our mobile penetration is pretty high:

Home to a highly proactive regulatory authority and a competitive mobile market with five operators, Sri Lanka ranks 14th globally in the 2011 mobile-cellular price basket, which measures affordability of services. That means that mobile cellular prices are among the lowest in the world, in US$ terms as well as in relative terms (as a percentage of GNI per capita), with prices dropping by over 40% between 2010 and 2011.[ITU] While people do complain about the traffic in Colombo, expressways and roads out in the provinces are awesome: The A9 to Jaffna, the A6 to Trinco, the A11 to Batti, the A26 via the 18 hairpin bends, the A4 via Pottuvil… the list goes on. They’re all great roads. Read More at www.yamu.lk