Introduction: Teaching is considered as one of the most important profession in the world today. In the past it was considered as a rather routine job without hard or hazardous work. However the present day school teachers have to play multiple roles in their day-to-day work with children, colleagues and administrators. Therefore teaching is now considered as a high stress profession. As a result there was a growing concern among researchers about teachers' mental health during last few decades. Several researchers have identified number of mental health problems of teachers including burnout. Burnout has not studied among teachers in Sri Lanka. Objective: The present study was planned to determine the prevalence and risk factors of burnout among female primary school teachers in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Methodology: Out of the female primary school teachers employed in the southern province of Sri Lanka, 660 teachers were selected using multi stage cluster sampling method. A self-administered questionnaire was used for the data collection. It consists with three broad sections: Socio-demographic characteristics, Occupational and life style factors and validated Sinhala version of Maslach Burnout Inventory- Educators Survey (MBI-ES-Sin). For identification of correlates of burnout, all the teachers identified as having burnout were selected as cases and double the number of cases was randomly selected from the teachers who were identified as not having burnout as controls. Results: Overall prevalence of burnout among female primary school teachers in the Southern Province was 115.6 per 1000 population. The prevalence rate for burnout was highest (157.8/1000 population) in the Hambanthota district. A stepwise increase in prevalence of burnout was observed from Galle (96/1000 population), Matara (105/1000 population) to Hambanthota district. Following the logistic regression analysis female primary school teachers more than 20 years in teaching profession, female primary school teachers who travel more than 10 kilometers daily to school, teachers doing home work more than 5 hours per week, teachers who participating in school activities during weekend, teachers who sleep less than 7 hours per day and teachers who are having one hour or less leisure time per day were identified as having significantly higher level of burnout. Conclusions: Burnout is a problem among female primary school teachers in Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is recommended that relevant authorities take necessary steps to address the factors contributing to the teacher burnout.