ACOG - Lao People's Democratic Republic - IBM

Geography

Location: Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand

Area:
total area: 236,800 sq km
land area: 230,800 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than Utah

Land boundaries: total 5,083 km, Burma 235 km, Cambodia 541 km, China 423 km, Thailand1,754 km, Vietnam 2,130 km

Coastline: 0 km


People

Population: 4,837,237 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 45% (female 1,084,615; male 1,111,928)
15-64 years: 51% (female 1,280,142; male 1,199,149)
65 years and over: 4% (female 86,390; male 75,013)

Population growth rate: 2.84% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 42.64 births/1,000 population

Death rate: 14.28 deaths/1,000 population

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate: 99.2 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 52.2 years
male: 50.66 years
female: 53.81 years

Total fertility rate: 5.98 children born/woman

Ethnic divisions: Lao Loum (lowland) 68%, Lao Theung (upland) 22%, Lao Soung (highland) including the Hmong ("Meo") and the Yao (Mien) 9%, ethnic Vietnamese/Chinese1%

Religions: Buddhist 60%, animist and other 40%

Languages: Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1992)
total population: 50%
male: 65%
female: 35%


Government

Names:
conventional long form: Lao People's Democratic Republic
conventional short form: Laos

Type: Communist state

Capital: Vientiane

Independence: 19 July 1949 (from France)

Constitution: promulgated 14 August 1991


Economy

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $4 billion

National product real growth rate: 8.4%

National product per capita: $850

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.5%

Unemployment rate: 21%

Electricity:
capacity: 260,000 kW
production: 870 million kWh
consumption per capita: 44 kWh



Olympic Factoid
The Mother Nature was kind to Olympic athletes and spectators. The average high temperature during the Games was 89 degrees with an average low of 72 degrees. Highest temperature registered (20 July) - 99 degrees. Lowest high temperature registered is 79 degrees (28 July).