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People
Cultural Demography
Cambodia's population totals approximately 15 million people. The vast majority of the population of Cambodia is the Khmer (Cambodians), a unique ethnic group in Southeast Asia because of its homogenous national identity. Other traditional ethnic groups include the Vietnamese, the Chinese, Cham-Malays, various tribal peoples and the Europeans.
Religion
Theravada Buddhism (the older and more traditional of the two schools of Buddhism) is the major religion practiced in Cambodia, and most ethnic Khmer are Theravada Buddhists. Islam, animism and Taoism are practiced by non-Khmer people in Cambodia.
Language
Khmer is the official language, and it is spoken by most of the population, including minorities. Some French is still spoken in certain enclaves, while English has become increasingly popular as a second language.
Human Development
The life expectancy rate at birth in Cambodia is 61.69 years for the total population (59.65 years for males and 63.83 years for females, according to recent estimates. Cambodia has an infant mortality rate of 56.59 deaths/1,000 live births.
In terms of literacy, 73.6 percent of the population, age 15 and over, can read and write. However, there is a gender based disparity in that rate since 84.7 percent of the male population is literate while only 64.1 percent of the female population is literate.
In terms of health and welfare, 2.1 percent of GDP in this country is spent on education expenditures; 5.8 percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures. Generally, access to sanitation and water in this country is adequate, although far more problematic in certain rural areas.
A notable measure of human development is the Human Development Index (HDI), which is formulated by the United Nations Development Program. The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main areas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. The HDI from a recent Human Development Report placed Cambodia in the medium human development category, at 124th place.
Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief, www.countrywatch.com . See Bibliography for list of research sources.
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