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RESEARCH SYNTHESIS ON LAO PDR
COUNTRY
CHARACTERISTICS
This section presents Lao PDR’s geographic
attributes, social, economic and climatic risks
situation. Lao PDR’s country profile overview is
shown in Table 1.
Geographic Attributes
Lao PDR is located in the Mekong Region, bordering
on China in the North, Thailand and Myanmar in the
West, Cambodia in the South, and Viet Nam in the
East (see Figure 3). From its total land area of about
236,800 km2, approximately 80% are mountainous,
located in northern Lao PDR in the eastern border,
and in the south. The remaining land area mainly
consists of flat floodplain along the Mekong River
(Lao PDR, 2009a).
Table_1 Lao PDR Country Profile Overview
Country information (Lao PDR, 2009a)
Surface area (km2) 236, 800
Bordering countries
Population density, 2005 (persons/km2) 24
Population growth rate, 2005 (%) 2.4
Mountainous land (% of total area) 80
Flat land (% of total area)
Agricultural land (% of total area) 8
China,
Viet Nam,
Cambodia,
Thailand, and
Myanmar
≈20
GDP, nominal, 2007-08 (million US$) 4,980
Contribution of agricultural sector to
GDP, 2007 (%)
40.3
Socio-Economic Status
Contribution of industrial sector to GDP,
2007 (%)
34.1
According to the 2005 census, the population of Lao
PDR is 5.8 million inhabitants, resulting with 24
people per km2 in the lowest population density of
Southeast Asia (Lao PDR, 2009a). The growth rate
of the Lao PDR population was about 2.4% and the
crude birth rate was 33.7 per 1,000 people. Around
73% of the Lao population lived in rural areas.
The country’s poverty could be reduced, showing
38.6% of households living below the poverty line in
1992/93 and 28.7% of poor households in 2002/03.
The adult literacy rate was 73% in 2005 and was
estimated to be 77% in 2007. In the UN Human
Development Index, Lao ranks 133rd out of a total
of 179 countries in 2009. Regarding the economic
activity, out of the in total US$ 4,980 million Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) in 2007, 40.3% were
Contribution of service sector to GDP,
2007 (%)
Percentage of population, 2005 (%) in
- rural areas
- urban areas
Poor population, 2002/03 (% of
households)
25.6
73
27
28.7
Infant mortality rate, 2006 (%) 5.72
Adult literacy rate, 2007 (% of total
population, estimate)
Access to water supply, 2007 (% of total
population, estimate)
77
55
14