General information about Laos
The official name is the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Located in Southeast Asia in the center of the Indochinese Peninsula. The area is 236.8 thousand km2, the population is 5.53 million people. (2002). The official language is Lao. The capital is Vientiane (327 thousand people, 2002). Public holiday – Proclamation Day of the Lao PDR on December 2 (1975). Monetary unit – kip (coin – at).
Member of 35 international organizations, incl. The UN and its specialized organizations (since 1955), the IMF (since 1961), the Asian Development Bank (since 1966), ASEAN (since 1997).
Geography of Laos
According to allcitycodes, Laos is located between 100° and 107°40′ East longitude and 13°55′ and 22°32′ North latitude. It has no access to the sea, borders on Cambodia (435 km) in the south, Thailand (1835 km) in the west, China (505 km) in the north, Myanmar (236 km) in the north-west, Myanmar (236 km) in the east, – with Vietnam (2069 km). The landscape is mostly mountainous, with a few plateaus and valleys. Tops of St. 2000 m – nine, the highest is Bia. The main river is the Mekong (the length within Laos is 1,898 km) with numerous tributaries, the largest being U and Ngym. There are no lakes or inland seas. The largest mountain valleys are Vientiane, the Valley of Pitchers and Savannakhetskaya. The main types of soils are red soils, alluvial and basalt. Vegetation is represented by forests, shrubs and savannahs.
Fauna – rare species of monkeys, reptiles, predators, birds. Minerals – tin, gypsum, coal, copper, salt, iron, platinum, gold, silver, lead, zinc, manganese, precious stones; there are oil layers. The hydropower potential of the rivers is significant. The climate is tropical, monsoonal. There are two distinct seasons – cool dry (from November to April) and rainy hot (from May to October). Frequent droughts and floods.
The population of Laos
The dynamics of the population of Laos (million people): 1980 – 3.199; 1985 – 3.618; 1990 – 4,140; 1995 – 4.605; 2000 – 5,218.
Natural average annual population growth 2.47% (2002 est.). Average life expectancy is 54 years. Child mortality 93 people. per 1000 newborns (2001). Age structure: 0-14 years old – 44.4%, 15-59 years old – 50.0%, 60 years and older – 5.6% (2002). Women 2.595 million (51%); men 2.730 million (49.0%). Urban population – 24%, rural – 76%. Among the population older than 15 years, 50% are literate.
More than 60 nationalities live in Laos, in accordance with the main ethno-cultural, linguistic and geo-economic features united into three groups: Lao-Lums (lowland Laotians, Lao-Thai language, 68% of the inhabitants), Lao-Tengs (Upper Laotians, Mon-Khmer languages, 22%) and Lao-Sungi (High Lao, Miao-Yao languages (Hmong-Mien) 9%). Representatives of non-Lao nationality – Vietnamese, Chinese – no more than 1% of the population.
The religion of the majority of residents (60%) is Buddhism (the southern branch is Hinayana, or Theravada), almost 38.5% adhere to animistic beliefs, 1.5% are Christians.
