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People
Overview of Cultural Demography
Laos is a landlocked country located on the Indochinese peninsula. It is bordered by China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. The population of Laos, numbering approximately six million in total, is ethnically and linguistically diverse, with near 50 identified ethnic groups which are divided into four main linguistic as well as basic ethnic families.
Cultural Diversity
The Lao-Loum known as the Lao of lowlands live on the banks of the Mekong River and in cities. Also identified as the Lao-Tai, they speak Laotian Tai, a language spoken by the Thai of Thailand. Including eight ethnic groups, the Lao-Loum make up the majority (68 percent) of the country's population. They are also the most politically dominant group within Laos. Before the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in 1975, the Lao-Loum had a well-defined social structure classified between royalty and commoners. After 1975, a new elite class was formed by the victorious leftist forces, but many people in this group belong to the former aristocratic class.
The Lao-Theung are thought to be descendants of the earliest inhabitants of Laos. They belong to Mon-Khmer ethno-linguistic family, an ethnic classification akin to present-day Cambodians. Including 32 ethnic groups, the cultural and linguistic differences within the Lao-Theung are more extensive than other families. The Lao-Theung account for about 22 percent of the national population.
The Lao-Soung family includes the Hmong and the Loumien (Yao or Man) ethnic groups, and they are divided into subgroups. There is also the Tibeto-Burmese family which includes seven ethnic groups. These two families make up about 10 percent of the total population of Laos.
There are also small communities of Chinese and Vietnamese in Laos.
Religion
The predominant religion of Laos is Theravada Buddhism, with 60 percent of the population reported as adherents. The rest of the population in Laos, most of them living in the more isolated upland areas, believe in animism or spirit worship. Before 1975, there were Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the country, but most of them left Laos after 1975.
Language
The official and dominant language is Lao, a tonal language of the Tai-Kadai linguistic group. French had been common in government and business, but its usage has declined with the departure of many former government officials. Since its involvement in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1997, the usage of English has been increasing in Laos.
Human Development
With the lowest population density among Southeast Asian countries, Laos is an under populated country. Its formation of the population is also one of the most youthful. Though Laos has a high birthrate, the infant-mortality rate (79.61 deaths/1,000 live births) is one of the highest in the region. The population of Laos has life expectancy at birth of 56.29 years (54.19 years for males and 58.47 years for females), according to recent estimates. The literacy rate in Laos is 68.7 percent of the total population on average; 77 percent of males and 60.9 percent of the female age 15 and over can read and write.
Gender inequality, particularly as regards property rights and access to land and water resources, has been a notable challenge in Laos. Concern over this issue has resulted in a grant by the Asian Development Bank to study this matter. See "Political Developments" for further details.
In terms of health and welfare, 2.3 percent of GDP in this country is spent on education; 6.5 percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures. Generally, access to sanitation and water in this country is adequate in urban areas and 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. In a ranking of 169 countries, the HDI places Laos in the medium human development category, at 122nd place.
Note: 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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