| in Did You Know Facts
It is the world's first country to have a female prime minister.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the head of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, won the general election in July 1960 and became the world's first female prime minister. She served the country for three terms before resigning in August 2000 due to health issues. Sirimavo Bandaranaike died of a heart attack in the same year she voted in the parliamentary elections, at the age of 84.