LAOS
GEOGRAPHY
Total area: 236,800 km2; land area: 230,800 km2
Comparative area: slightly larger than Utah
Land boundaries: 5,083 km total; Burma 235 km, Cambodia 541 km,
China 423 km, Thailand 1,754 km, Vietnam 2,130 km
Coastline: none--landlocked
Maritime claims: none--landlocked
Disputes: boundary dispute with Thailand
Climate: tropical monsoon; rainy season (May to November); dry
season (December to April)
Terrain: mostly rugged mountains; some plains and plateaus
Natural resources: timber, hydropower, gypsum, tin, gold,
gemstones
Land use: arable land 4%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and
pastures 3%; forest and woodland 58%; other 35%; includes irrigated 1%
Environment: deforestation; soil erosion; subject to floods
Note: landlocked
PEOPLE
Population: 4,113,223 (July 1991), growth rate 2.2% (1991)
Birth rate: 37 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 15 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 124 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 49 years male, 52 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 5.0 children born/woman (1991)
Nationality: noun--Lao (sing., Lao or Laotian); adjective--Lao
or Laotian
Ethnic divisions: Lao 50%, Phoutheung (Kha) 15%, tribal Thai 20%,
Meo, Hmong, Yao, and other 15%
Religion: Buddhist 85%, animist and other 15%
Language: Lao (official), French, and English
Literacy: 84% (male 92%, female 76%) age 15 to 45 can
read and write (1985 est.)
Labor force: 1-1.5 million; 85-90% in agriculture (est.)
Organized labor: Lao Federation of Trade Unions is subordinate to
the Communist party
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: Lao People's Democratic Republic
Type: Communist state
Capital: Vientiane
Administrative divisions: 16 provinces (khoueng, singular and
plural) and 1 municipality* (kampheng nakhon, singular and plural);
Attapu, Bokeo, Bolikhamsai, Champasak, Houaphan, Khammouan, Louang
Namtha, Louangphrabang, Oudomxai, Phongsali, Saravan, Savannakhet,
Sekong, Vientiane, Vientiane*, Xaignabouri, Xiangkhoang
Independence: 19 July 1949 (from France)
Constitution: draft constitution under discussion since 1976
Legal system: based on civil law system; has not accepted
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: National Day (proclamation of the Lao People's
Democratic Republic), 2 December (1975)
Executive branch: president, chairman and four vice chairmen of the
Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers (cabinet)
Legislative branch: Supreme People's Assembly
Judicial branch: People's Supreme Court
Leaders:
Chief of State--President KAYSONE PHOMVIHAN (since 15
August 1991);
Head of Government--Chairman of the Council of Ministers General
Gen. KHAMTAI SIPHANDON (since 15 August 1991)
Political parties and leaders:
Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP), KAYSONE PHOMVIHAN, party
chairman;
includes Lao Patriotic Front and Alliance Committee of Patriotic
Neutralist Forces;
other parties moribund
Suffrage: universal at age 18
Elections:
Supreme People's Assembly--last held on 26 March 1989 (next to be
held NA); results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(79 total) number of seats by party NA
Other political or pressure groups: non-Communist political groups
moribund; most leaders have fled the country
Member of: ACCT (associate), AsDB, CP, ESCAP,
FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, ILO, IMF, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU,
LORCS, NAM, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation: Charge d'Affaires LINTHONG PHETSAVAN;
Chancery at 2222 S Street NW, Washington DC 20008;
telephone (202) 332-6416 or 6417;
US--Charge d'Affaires Charles B. SALMON, Jr.; Embassy at Rue
Bartholonie, Vientiane (mailing address is B. P. 114, Vientiane, or
Box V, APO San Francisco 96346); telephone 2220, 2357, 2384
Flag: three horizontal bands of red (top), blue (double width), and
red with a large white disk centered in the blue band
ECONOMY
Overview: One of the world's poorest nations, Laos has had a
Communist centrally planned economy with government ownership and control
of productive enterprises of any size. Recently, however, the government
has been decentralizing control and encouraging private enterprise.
Laos is a landlocked country with a primitive infrastructure, that is,
it has no railroads, a rudimentary road system, limited external and
internal telecommunications, and electricity available in only a
limited area. Subsistence agriculture is the main occupation,
accounting for over 60% of GDP and providing about 85-90% of
total employment. The predominant crop is rice. For the foreseeable
future the economy will continue to depend for its survival on foreign
aid from the IMF and other international sources; foreign aid from the
USSR and Eastern Europe is being cut sharply.
GDP: $600 million, per capita $150; real growth rate 5% (1990 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 22% (1990 est.)
Unemployment rate: 21% (1989 est.)
Budget: revenues $83 million; expenditures $188.5 million,
including capital expenditures of $94 million (1990 est.)
Exports: $72 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.);
commodities--electricity, wood products, coffee, tin;
partners--Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, USSR, US
Imports: $238 million (c.i.f., 1990 est.);
commodities--food, fuel oil, consumer goods, manufactures;
partners--Thailand, USSR, Japan, France, Vietnam
External debt: $1.1 billion (1990 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 8% (1989 est.); accounts
for about 20% of GDP
Electricity: 176,000 kW capacity; 1,100 million kWh produced,
270 kWh per capita (1990)
Industries: tin mining, timber, electric power, agricultural
processing, construction
Agriculture: accounts for 60% of GDP and employs most of the
work force; subsistence farming predominates; normally self-sufficient
in non-drought years; principal crops--rice (80% of cultivated land),
sweet potatoes, vegetables, corn, coffee, sugarcane, cotton;
livestock--buffaloes, hogs, cattle, chicken
Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis and opium poppy for the
international drug trade
Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-79), $276
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $546 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $995 million
Currency: new kip (plural--kips); 1 new kip (NK) = 100 at
Exchange rates: new kips (NK) per US$1--695 (April 1991),
700 (September 1990), 576 (1989), 385 (1988), 200 (1987), 108 (1986),
95 (1985)
Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June
COMMUNICATIONS
Highways: about 27,527 km total; 1,856 km bituminous or bituminous
treated; 7,451 km gravel, crushed stone, or improved earth; 18,220 km
unimproved earth and often impassable during rainy season mid-May to
mid-September
Inland waterways: about 4,587 km, primarily Mekong and tributaries;
2,897 additional kilometers are sectionally navigable by craft drawing
less than 0.5 m
Pipelines: 136 km, refined products
Ports: none
Airports: 65 total, 51 usable; 9 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m;
13 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: service to general public considered poor;
radio network provides generally erratic service to government users;
7,390 telephones (1986); stations--10 AM, no FM, 1 TV; 1 satellite earth
station
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Lao People's Army (LPA; including naval, aviation, and
militia elements), Air Force, National Police Department
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 991,864; 531,084 fit for
military service; 45,548 reach military age (18) annually;
conscription age NA
Defense expenditures: $NA, 3.8% of GDP (1987)