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Country Facts

Capital:	Vientiane
Area:	236,000 sq km
Population:	6.3 million (July 2006 est.), of which around 70% belong to ethnic minorities
Indigenous population:	There are at least 240 different ethnic groups, classified into four different language groups: Lao T’ai, Mon-Khmer, Chinese-Tibetan and Hmong-Mien
Government type:	Communist state
Legal recognition of indigenous peoples:	The Constitution of 1991 is the general framework of the State’s policy with respect to indigenous peoples and officially all ethnic groups have equal status. Laos has an ethnic minority policy formulated in the "Resolution of the Party Central Organization Concerning Ethnic Minority Affairs in the New Era" of 1992.
Language:	Lao (official), French, English and various ethnic languages. People who speak first languages belonging to the Lao-Tai language family make up about 66% of the population. The rest mostly have first languages within the Mon-Khmer, Sino-Tibetan and Hmong-Mien language families.
GDP per capita:	$1,900 (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line:	34% (2002 est.)
Life expectancy:	55 years
Health:	Primary health care services are extremely poor in most indigenous areas. The main obstacles to an improved primary health care system are the remoteness of villages and the communication difficulties between the ethnic minorities and medical staff, who all live in the lowlands and do not speak the language of the minorities. Opium addiction is another problem and, in some indigenous areas in northern Laos, up to 12% of the population is estimated to smoke opium on a daily basis. Health problems, disillusion and depression as a result of poverty and a lack of medical services are the main reasons for the high addiction rate. Government promoted internal resettlement is also one of the main indirect causes of health problems among indigenous peoples.
Education:	Despite the fact that primary education is made compulsory in the 1991 Constitution, the education system is very poor. The illiteracy rate is 40-50% at the national level but higher among the indigenous population. The lowland Lao comprise about 50-55% of the population, and 73% of school enrolment. However Hmong, Ieu-Mien and Akha, for example, account for approximately 18% of the population but only 4% of primary school enrolment. In many indigenous areas, no more than two years of primary schooling is offered and 31.9% of the boys have never attended school, nor have 53.1% of the girls. Difficult geographical location, lack of common language, differing social and cultural customs and traditions are all factors that play an important role in hindering universal education of the ethnic populations.
Key sectors:	Laos has a predominantly agricultural economy; agriculture accounts for about half of GDP and provides 80% of total employment. After agriculture, forestry is the second largest economic sector, employing more than 10 % of the population. The only other significant industry is garment manufacturing.

Sources: various sources including CIA World Fact Book, UNDP, UNESCO, FAO and Lao Front for National Construction