Modern-day Laos has its roots in the ancient Lao kingdom of Lan Xang, established in the 14th Century under King FA NGUM. For three hundred years Lan Xang included large parts of present-day Cambodia and Thailand, as well as all of what is now Laos. After centuries of gradual decline, Laos came 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 and instituting a strict socialist regime closely aligned to Vietnam. A gradual return to private enterprise and the liberalization of foreign investment laws began in 1986. Laos became a member of ASEAN in 1997.
total: 19 years male: 18.7 years female: 19.3 years (2007 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.37% (2007 est.)
Birth rate:
34.98 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate:
11.28 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.008 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.978 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.791 male(s)/female total population: 0.984 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 81.44 deaths/1,000 live births male: 90.91 deaths/1,000 live births female: 71.56 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 55.89 years male: 53.82 years female: 58.04 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate:
4.59 children born/woman (2007 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: Lao(s) or Laotian(s) adjective: Lao or Laotian
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: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 66.4% male: 77.4% female: 55.5% (2002)
conventional long form: Lao People's Democratic Republic conventional short form: Laos local long form: Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao local short form: none
Government type:
Communist state
Capital:
name: Vientiane geographic coordinates: 17 58 N, 102 36 E time difference: UTC+7 (12 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
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: President Lt. Gen. CHOUMMALI Saignason (since 8 June 2006); Vice President BOUN-GNANG Volachit (since 8 June 2006) head of government: Prime Minister BOUASONE Bouphavanh (since 8 June 2006); Deputy Prime Ministers Maj. Gen. ASANG Laoli (since May 2002), Maj. Gen. DOUANGCHAI Phichit (since 8 June 2006), SOMSAVAT Lengsavat (since 26 February 1998), and THONGLOUN Sisoulit (since 27 March 2001) cabinet: Ministers appointed by president, approved by National Assembly elections: president and vice president elected by National Assembly for five-year terms; election last held 8 June 2006 (next to be held in 2011); prime minister nominated by president and elected by National Assembly for five-year term election results: CHOUMMALI Saignason elected president; BOUN-GNANG Volachit elected vice president; percent of National Assembly vote - 100%; BOUASONE Bouphavanh elected prime minister; percent of National Assembly vote - 97%
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly (115 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: last held 30 April 2006 (next to be held in 2011) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - LPRP 113, independents 2
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 [CHOUMMALI Saignason]; other parties proscribed
Political pressure groups and leaders:
noncommunist political groups proscribed; most opposition leaders fled the country in 1975
chief of mission: Ambassador PHIANE Philakone chancery: 2222 S Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 332-6416 FAX: [1] (202) 332-4923
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Patricia M. HASLACH embassy: 19 Rue Bartholonie, That Dam Road, Vientiane mailing address: American Embassy Vientiane, Box V, APO AP 96546 telephone: [856] 21-26 7000 FAX: [856] 21-26 7074
Flag description:
three horizontal bands of red (top), blue (double width), and red with a large white disk centered in the blue band
general assessment: service to general public is poor but improving; the government relies on a radiotelephone network to communicate with remote areas domestic: radiotelephone communications international: country code - 856; satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 7, FM 14, shortwave 2 (2007)
Radios:
730,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
7 (includes 1 station relaying Vietnam Television from Hanoi) (2006)
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: 1,500,625 females age 15-49: 1,521,116 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 954,816 females age 15-49: 1,006,082 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 73,167 females age 15-49: 71,432 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$11.04 million (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
0.6% (2006 est.)
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)
Southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to check the spread of avian flu; talks continue on completion of demarcation with Thailand but disputes remain over islands in the Mekong River; concern among Mekong Commission members that China's construction of dams on the Mekong River will affect water levels
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Laos is a source country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; a significant number are economic migrants who are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation or conditions of forced or bonded labor in Thailand; to a lesser extent, Laos is a transit and destination country for women who are trafficked for sexual exploitation including a small number of victims from China and Vietnam trafficked to work as street vendors and for sexual exploitation in prostitution tier rating: Tier 3 - Laos does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so
Illicit drugs:
estimated opium poppy cultivation in 2005 was 5,600 hectares, about a 45% decrease from 2004; estimated potential opium production in 2005 was 28 metric tons, a significant decrease from 200 metric tons in 2003; unsubstantiated reports of domestic methamphetamine production; growing domestic methamphetamine problem
StumbleUpon
Delicious