Guide to Laos Introduction Background: Laos was under the control of Siam (Thailand) from the late 18th century until the late 19th century when it became part of French Indochina. The Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907 defined the current Lao border with Thailand. In 1975, the Communist Pathet Lao took control of the government, ending a six-century-old monarchy. Initial closer ties to Vietnam and socialization were replaced with a gradual return to private enterprise, a liberalization of foreign investment laws, and the admission into ASEAN in 1997.
Geography Location: Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam
Geographic coordinates: 18 00 N, 105 00 E
Map references: Southeast Asia
Area: total
Area - comparative: slightly larger than Utah
Land boundaries: total
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Climate: tropical monsoon; rainy season (May to November); dry season (December to April)
Terrain: mostly rugged mountains; some plains and plateaus
Elevation extremes: lowest point
Natural resources: timber, hydropower, gypsum, tin, gold, gemstones
Land use: arable land
Irrigated land: 1,640 sq km note
Natural hazards: floods, droughts
Environment - current issues: unexploded ordnance; deforestation; soil erosion; most of the population does not have access to potable water
Environment - international agreements: party to
Geography - note: landlocked; most of the country is mountainous and thickly forested; the Mekong River forms a large part of the western boundary with Thailand
People Population: 6,217,141 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years
Median age: total
Population growth rate: 2.42% (2005 est.)
Birth rate: 35.99 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate: 11.83 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth
Infant mortality rate: total
Life expectancy at birth: total population
Total fertility rate: 4.77 children born/woman (2005 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.1% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 1,700 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 200 (2003 est.)
Nationality: noun
Ethnic groups: Lao Loum (lowland) 68%, Lao Theung (upland) 22%, Lao Soung (highland) including the Hmong and the Yao 9%, ethnic Vietnamese/Chinese 1%
Religions: Buddhist 60%, animist and other 40% (including various Christian denominations 1.5%)
Languages: Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages
Literacy: definition
Government Country name: conventional long form
Government type: Communist state
Capital: Vientiane
Administrative divisions: 16 provinces (khoueng, singular and plural), 1 municipality* (kampheng nakhon, singular and plural), and 1 special zone** (khetphiset, singular and plural); Attapu, Bokeo, Bolikhamxai, Champasak, Houaphan, Khammouan, Louangnamtha, Louangphrabang, Oudomxai, Phongsali, Salavan, Savannakhet, Viangchan (Vientiane)*, Viangchan, Xaignabouli, Xaisomboun**, Xekong, Xiangkhoang
Independence: 19 July 1949 (from France)
National holiday: Republic Day, 2 December (1975)
Constitution: promulgated 14 August 1991
Legal system: based on traditional customs, French legal norms and procedures, and socialist practice
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state
Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (109 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms; note - total number of seats increased from 99 to 109 for the 2002 election) elections
Judicial branch: People's Supreme Court (the president of the People's Supreme Court is elected by the National Assembly on the recommendation of the National Assembly Standing Committee; the vice president of the People's Supreme Court and the judges are appointed by the National Assembly Standing Committee)
Political parties and leaders: Lao People's Revolutionary Party or LPRP [KHAMTAI Siphadon, party president]; other parties proscribed
Political pressure groups and leaders: noncommunist political groups proscribed; most opposition leaders fled the country in 1975
International organization participation: ACCT, APT, ARF, AsDB, ASEAN, CP, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO (observer)
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission
Flag description: three horizontal bands of red (top), blue (double width), and red with a large white disk centered in the blue band
Economy Economy - overview: The government of Laos - one of the few remaining official Communist states - began decentralizing control and encouraging private enterprise in 1986. The results, starting from an extremely low base, were striking - growth averaged 6% in 1988-2004 except during the short-lived drop caused by the Asian financial crisis beginning in 1997. Despite this high growth rate, Laos remains a country with a primitive infrastructure; it has no railroads, a rudimentary road system, and limited external and internal telecommunications. The government has sponsored major improvements in the road system. Electricity is available in only a few urban areas. Subsistence agriculture accounts for half of GDP and provides 80% of total employment. The economy will continue to benefit from aid from the IMF and other international sources and from new foreign investment in food processing and mining. In late 2004, Laos gained Normal Trade Relations status with the US, allowing Laos-based producers to face lower tariffs on their exports; this may help spur growth.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $11.28 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,900 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture
Labor force: 2.6 million (2001 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 80% (1997 est.)
Unemployment rate: 5.7% (1997 est.)
Population below poverty line: 40% (2002 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 37 (1997)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12.3% (2004 est.)
Budget: revenues
Agriculture - products: sweet potatoes, vegetables, corn, coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, tea, peanuts, rice, water buffalo, pigs, cattle, poultry
Industries: tin and gypsum mining, timber, electric power, agricultural processing, construction, garments, tourism
Industrial production growth rate: 9.7% (2001 est.)
Electricity - production: 3.56 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel
Electricity - consumption: 3.036 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports: 400 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports: 125 million kWh (2002)
Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption: 2,750 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: NA
Oil - imports: NA
Current account balance: $-80.76 million (2004 est.)
Exports: $365.5 million (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities: garments, wood products, coffee, electricity, tin
Exports - partners: Thailand 19.3%, Vietnam 13.4%, France 8%, Germany 5.3%, UK 5% (2004)
Imports: $579.5 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, vehicles, fuel, consumer goods
Imports - partners: Thailand 60.5%, China 10.3%, Vietnam 7.1%, Singapore 4% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $193.1 million (2004 est.)
Debt - external: $2.49 billion (2001)
Economic aid - recipient: $243 million (2001 est.)
Currency (code): kip (LAK)
Currency code: LAK
Exchange rates: kips per US dollar - 10,820 (2004), 10,569 (2003), 10,056.3 (2002), 8,954.6 (2001), 7,887.6 (2000)
Fiscal year: 1 October - 30 September
Communications Telephones - main lines in use: 61,900 (2002)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 55,200 (2002)
Telephone system: general assessment
Radio broadcast stations: AM 12, FM 1, shortwave 4 (1998)
Radios: 730,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 4 (1999)
Televisions: 52,000 (1997)
Internet country code: .la
Internet hosts: 937 (2003)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2000)
Internet users: 15,000 (2002)
Transportation Highways: total
Waterways: 4,600 km note
Pipelines: refined products 540 km (2004)
Merchant marine: total
Airports: 44 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total
Airports - with unpaved runways: total
Military Military branches: Lao People's Army (LPA; includes Riverine Force), Air Force
Military service age and obligation: 15 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - minimum 18 months (2004)
Manpower available for military service: males age 15-49
Manpower fit for military service: males age 15-49
Manpower reaching military service age annually: males
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $10.7 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 0.5% (2004)
Military - note: Laos is one of the world's least developed countries; the Lao People's Armed Forces are small, poorly funded, and ineffectively resourced; there is little political will to allocate sparse funding to the military, and the armed forces' gradual degradation is likely to continue; the massive drug production and trafficking industry centered in the Golden Triangle makes Laos an important narcotics transit country, and armed Wa and Chinese smugglers are active on the Lao-Burma border (2005)
Transnational Issues Disputes - international: Southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to check the spread of avian flu; Laos and Thailand pledge to complete demarcation of boundaries in 2005, while ongoing disputes over squatters and boundary encroachment by Thailand including Mekong River islets persist; in 2004 Cambodian-Laotian boundary commission agrees to re-erect missing markers in two adjoining provinces; concern among Mekong Commission members that China's construction of dams on the Mekong River will affect water levels
Illicit drugs: estimated cultivation in 2004 - 10,000 hectares, a 45% decrease from 2003; estimated potential production in 2004 - 49 metric tons, a significant decrease from 200 metric tons in 2003 (2005)
Last updated: 20 October, 2005
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