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| Geography |
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Laos is located in the Southeastern Asia, bordering Burma, China to the northwest, Vietnam in the East, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west. Laos is completely landlocked with no coastlines. The land boundary stretches upto 5,083 km.
The geographical terrain has rugged mountains with some plains and plateaus. The lowest point is Mekong River at 70 m and the highest is the Phou Bia at 2,817 m. The natural resources to be found in Laos is timber, hydropower, gypsum, tin, gold and gemstones. |
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| Climate |
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| The climate is by and large tropical and monsoonal. There rainy season lasts from May to November, followed by a dry season from December to April. |
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| People |
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The total population of Laos it estimated to be 6,677,534. The chief ethnic groups to be found in Laos are Lao Loum in lowland covering 68% of the population, Lao Theung in upland comprising 22%, Lao Soung in the highland including the Hmong and the Yao with 9% and ethnic Vietnamese/Chinese comprising 1%.
65% of the population follow Buddhism, 32.9% follow animist, 1.3% are Christians and 0.8% follow other and unspecified religion.
Lao is the official language which is also a tonal language of the Tai linguistic group and other languages followed by people are French, English, and various ethnic languages.
Theravada Buddhism had a overriding influence over the culture in laos. The change is visible through the country from language to the temple and in art, literature, performing arts, etc. |
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| Government |
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Lao People's Democratic Republic government operates under the framework of a communist state. The president is the chief of the state and Prime Minister is the head of the government. The Ministers are appointed by president, approved by National Assembly. The president and the vice president are elected by National Assembly for five-year terms. Laos is administratively divided into 16 provinces and 1 capital city, the provinces are Attapu, Bokeo, Bolikhamxai, Champasak, Houaphan, Khammouan, Louangnamtha, Louangphrabang, Oudomxai, Phongsali, Salavan, Savannakhet, Viangchan, Xaignabouli, Xekong, Xiangkhoang and the capital is Viangchan
Capital: Vientiane
Independence Day: 19 July 1949
President: Lt. Gen. Choummali Saignason
Prime Minister: Bouasone Bouphavanh |
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| Economy |
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The government of Laos is one of the few enduring one-party Communist states. In 1986, it began decentralizing control and encouraging private enterprise. Opening from an tremendously low base, it were remarkable - growth averaged 6% per year in 1988-2007 apart from the short-lived crash caused by the Asian financial crisis beginning in 1997. Regardless of this high growth rate, Laos remains a country with an underdeveloped infrastructure, predominantly in rural areas. It has no railroads, a basic road system, and limited external and internal telecommunications, nevertheless the government is sponsoring major improvements in the road system with support from Japan and China. Electricity is available in urban areas and in nearly all rural district's.
The economy will continue to profit from the assistance of international donors and from foreign investment in hydropower and mining. Another strong economic driver would be construction, especially as hydroelectric dam and road projects gain steam. Laos is taking initiative to join the World Trade Organization in the coming years. A value-added tax (VAT) regime is slated to begin in 2008, which should help streamline the government's inefficient tax system.
80% of the labor force are into the agricultural sector and 20% of them are into the industrial and service industry.
The agricultural products to be found in Laos are sweet potatoes, vegetables, corn, coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, tea, peanuts, rice, water buffalo, pigs, cattle and poultry.
The industrial products and services are copper, tin, gold, and gypsum mining; timber, electric power, agricultural processing, construction, garments, tourism and cement.
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