Laos
Name
| Official name | Lao People's Democratic Republic — Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao (ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ); Lao PDR |
|---|---|
| Former names | Lan Xang (1353–1707); the kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Champasak; the French Protectorate of Laos (1893–1953); the Kingdom of Laos (1947–1975) |
| Demonym | Lao; Laotian |
| Meaning of the name | Laos — the French plural of Lao, the Tai people of the Mekong valley, the "s" unspoken; Lan Xang, "a million elephants" |
| Motto | "Peace, Independence, Democracy, Unity and Prosperity" — Santiphap, Ekalat, Paxathipatai, Ekaphap, Vatthanathavon |
Quick facts
| Capital | Vientiane — Viang Chan — the capital since 1560 with interruptions; about 1 million in the prefecture |
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| Largest cities | Vientiane; Savannakhet — Kaysone Phomvihane — about 120,000; Pakse; Luang Prabang, the royal capital; Thakhek; Xam Neua; Phonsavan; Vang Vieng |
| Official language | Lao — a Tai language of the Thai family, in its own script; French the second language of the old and the law, English of the young; Hmong, Khmu and some 80 languages |
| Currency | Lao kip — ISO code LAK, ₭; about 21,600 to the U.S. dollar; the baht and the dollar beside it |
| Time zone | Indochina Time, UTC+7, all year |
| Calling code | +856 |
| Internet domain | .la — sold abroad as the domain of Los Angeles |
| ISO 3166 codes | LA · LAO · 418 |
| Vehicle registration code | LAO |
| Driving side | Right — changed from the left in 1975 |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types A, B, C, E and F |
| Independence | 19 July 1949, from France within the French Union; full sovereignty 22 October 1953; the republic proclaimed 2 December 1975 — the National Day |
| National days | 2 December, National Day; 14–16 April, Pi Mai, the Lao New Year of the water; 22 March, the Party's founding of 1955; 20 January, Army Day; 8 March; 1 May; Boun That Luang in November; the Boun Bang Fai rocket festival of May |
| Constitution | 14 August 1991 — the Constitution of the Lao PDR, the first of the republic after sixteen years without one; amended 2003 and 2015; the Party's leading role in Article 3; the president elected by the Assembly for five years |
| Population | 6,492,228 at the census of 2015; the fifth census of March 2025 in count; about 7.6 million (UN, 2025 est.) |
| Area | 236,800 km² (91,429 sq mi) — land 230,800 km², water 6,000 km²; landlocked |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three horizontal bands of red, blue and red, the blue twice the width, with a white disc at the center — the blood of the struggle, the prosperity of the Mekong, and the full moon over the river, the unity of the nation; the flag of the Lao Issara of 1945 and of the Pathet Lao, adopted for the republic on 2 December 1975, one of the two communist flags without a star.Flag of Laos |
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| National emblem | The Pha That Luang stupa at the center over a dam, a road, a forest, a paddy and a cogwheel, ringed by rice ears and a red ribbon with the name of the state and the motto — the hammer and sickle and the red star of 1975 replaced by the stupa in 1991 |
| National anthem | "Pheng Xat Lao" ("Hymn of the Lao People") — music by Thongdy Sounthonevichit, 1941, the words of the kingdom of 1947 replaced by Sisana Sisane's in 1975 |
| National motto | "Peace, Independence, Democracy, Unity and Prosperity" |
| National colors | Red, blue and white |
| National animal | The elephant — the million of Lan Xang, about 800 left, half of them in the camps; the Irrawaddy dolphins of the Mekong, a few; widely cited |
| National flower | The dok champa — the frangipani, plumeria, of the temple courtyards, worn in the hair and strung for the guests; declared |
| National tree | The dok champa's tree; the teak and rosewood of the forests; widely cited |
| National dish | Laap — the minced meat with herbs, lime and toasted rice — with sticky rice, khao niao, eaten by hand from the basket, more of it per head here than anywhere on earth; tam mak hoong, the papaya salad; the Beerlao; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, emblem and anthem are fixed by the Constitution; the flower by declaration; the animal, tree and dishes widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Mainland Southeast Asia — landlocked between Thailand across the Mekong to the west, Vietnam beyond the Annamites to the east, Cambodia to the south, China and Myanmar to the north |
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| Land borders | 5,274 km (3,277 mi) with five countries — Vietnam 2,161, Thailand 1,845, Cambodia 555, China 475, Myanmar 238; the Mekong the Thai border for 900 km |
| Coastline | None — the only landlocked country of Southeast Asia |
| Highest point | Phou Bia, 2,817 m (9,242 ft), in Xiangkhouang |
| Lowest point | The Mekong at the Cambodian border, 70 m (230 ft) |
| Mean elevation | 710 m (2,329 ft) |
| The Mekong | About 1,900 km of the river's 4,350 in or along the country — from China through Luang Prabang and Vientiane to the Four Thousand Islands, Si Phan Don, and the Khone Phapheng falls, the largest in Southeast Asia by volume, 10 km wide; the tributaries of the Nam Ou, Nam Ngum, Nam Theun and Xe Kong; the dams on all of them |
| Terrain | Mountains and plateaus over three-quarters of the land — the Annamite Range along the Vietnamese border, the highlands of the north, the Xiangkhouang plateau with the Plain of Jars, the Bolaven plateau of the coffee in the south; the Mekong plain of the rice; the karst of Vang Vieng and Khammouane |
| Climate | Tropical monsoon — the rains of May to October, the dry season of November to April, the hot months of March and April; the highlands cool |
| Natural hazards | Floods of the Mekong and the dam failures — the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam collapse of 23 July 2018, about 70 dead; the typhoons from Vietnam; drought; the unexploded ordnance of the war |
| The bombs | The most heavily bombed country per head in history — some 2 million tons dropped by the United States in 580,000 sorties from 1964 to 1973, a planeload every eight minutes for nine years, more than on Germany and Japan together; about 270 million cluster bomblets, "bombies," of which about 80 million did not explode; some 50,000 killed or injured since, 20,000 of them after the war; a fraction of the land cleared; the Cope center of Vientiane; the American clearance aid of 2016 |
| Natural resources | Hydropower — the Mekong and its tributaries, the "battery of Southeast Asia"; gold and copper at Sepon; potash; bauxite; tin; the timber, cut and smuggled; the rare earths of the north |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 10%; forest about 70% by the official count, less by the satellites |
| National parks | The national protected areas of 1993, some 20 covering a fifth of the land — Nam Et-Phou Louey of the tigers, gone, and the gibbons; Nakai-Nam Theun around the dam; Xe Pian; Phou Khao Khouay near the capital; the Nam Ha of Luang Namtha; the first national parks proclaimed 2019 |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 3 — the Town of Luang Prabang (1995), the royal capital of temples and French villas; Vat Phou and the Champasak cultural landscape (2001), the Khmer temple; the Plain of Jars (2019), the megalithic jars of Xiangkhouang; the khaen music of the Lao on the intangible list since 2017 |
| Administrative divisions | 17 provinces — Vientiane Province, Savannakhet the most populous, Champasak, Luang Prabang, Xiangkhouang, Xaisomboun the newest of 2013 and the rest — and the Vientiane Prefecture; 148 districts; about 8,500 villages |
People
| Population | 6,492,228 (census of 2015); about 7.6 million (2025 est.) |
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| Population density | About 32 per km² (83 per sq mi) — among the lowest in Asia |
| Population growth | About 1.3% a year |
| Median age | About 25 years |
| Life expectancy | About 69 years |
| Fertility rate | About 2.4 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 38% |
| Adult literacy | About 87% |
| Ethnic groups | Lao about 53%, the lowland Tai of the Mekong; Khmu about 11%, the Mon-Khmer of the northern hills; Hmong about 9%, of the mountaintops; Phouthai, Tai, Makong, Katang, Lue, Akha and the rest of the 50 recognized groups — the Lao Loum of the lowlands, the Lao Theung of the slopes and the Lao Soung of the summits in the old classification; Vietnamese and Chinese (census of 2015) |
| Languages | Lao by about two-thirds as mother tongue and by nearly all in the towns; Khmu, Hmong, Phouthai and the rest; Thai understood from the television; French by a few, English by the young, Chinese by the traders and the railway |
| Religion | Theravada Buddhist about 65%, the Lao and the Tai, the monks of every village and the alms of Luang Prabang's dawn; animist about 31%, the Khmu, Hmong and the hill peoples, and the spirits beneath the Buddhism of all; Christian about 2%; the Party's control of the sangha |
| Human Development Index | 0.617 (2023 data, 2025 report) — medium; about 139th of 193 |
| The Hmong | The mountain people recruited by the CIA under Vang Pao for the Secret War of 1961–75 — some 30,000 of them dead, and the flight of 100,000 to Thailand and the United States after 1975, the Hmong of Minnesota and California; the insurgency in the Phou Bia hills to the 2000s; the returns and the resettlement |
| Sport | Football, the Lao League and the national team never past the regional stage; the sepak takraw; the boat races of the Boun Suang Heua on the Mekong at the end of the rains; the muay Lao; the Southeast Asian Games hosted in 2009, the first international games |
| Diaspora | About 500,000 of Lao origin abroad — the refugees of 1975–90 and their children in the United States, France, Australia and Canada; some 20 million Lao-speaking Isan people of northeastern Thailand, the larger Lao nation |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic under the Constitution of 1991 — the Lao People's Revolutionary Party the "leading nucleus" of the state; the president elected by the National Assembly for five years, the prime minister nominated by the president; the Assembly of 175 |
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| Party leader | Thongloun Sisoulith, General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party since 15 January 2021 — re-elected for a second term on 8 January 2026 at the 12th National Congress of 6–8 January, which chose a Central Committee of 73 and a Politburo; born 10 November 1945 at Hua Muang in Houaphanh, of the Tai Neua minority, the first party chief from a minority; a doctorate in history from Leningrad; foreign minister 2006–16, prime minister 2016–21 |
| President | Thongloun Sisoulith, since 22 March 2021 — the seventh president of the republic, elected by the Assembly after the Congress; the president the party chief by custom since 2006; the vice presidents Pany Yathotu and Bounthong Chitmany |
| Prime Minister | Sonexay Siphandone (LPRP), since 30 December 2022 — the son of Khamtai Siphandone, the party chief and president of 1991–2006, who died 2 April 2025 at 101; deputy prime minister and planning minister before, born 1966; the 18th prime minister, in the seat through the inflation of 2022–24 |
| The 2026 election | The 10th National Assembly elected 22 February 2026 — 175 seats in 18 constituencies of five to nineteen seats by the multiple vote, the candidates approved by the party through the Lao Front for National Construction, the Party's members and a few independents the whole; the turnout near-universal by the official count, the vote compulsory in effect; the provincial assemblies elected the same day |
| Parliament | The National Assembly — Sapha Heng Xat — 175 members elected for five years, the Party's deputies and its approved independents; Saysomphone Phomvihane, the son of the republic's founder Kaysone, its president since 2021; the assembly that once rubber-stamped and now questions the ministers on the debt |
| The next election | The Assembly due in 2031; the 13th Party Congress in 2031 |
| The Party | The Lao People's Revolutionary Party, founded 22 March 1955 in Houaphanh as the Lao People's Party by Kaysone Phomvihane, the Pathet Lao's party — some 350,000 members; the Politburo of a dozen the real government; the congresses every five years; the Vietnamese party its model and partner, the Chinese its creditor |
| The war and after | The Secret War — the American bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Pathet Lao zones from 1964 to 1973 and the CIA's Hmong army; the Pathet Lao's victory of 1975, the king Savang Vatthana and his family sent to the "seminar" camps of Houaphanh, where they died by 1980 by most accounts, the state silent; the re-education camps of a decade; the 300,000 who fled; the New Economic Mechanism of 1986 opening the economy; no political opposition, the disappearance of Sombath Somphone in December 2012 unresolved, the arrests of the critics of the 2010s and 2020s |
| Legal system | Civil law on the French and socialist models; the People's Supreme Court; the death penalty on the books, unused since 1989; the courts under the Party |
| Provinces | 17 and the prefecture under governors appointed by the president; the provincial assemblies since 2016; the villages under their chiefs |
| The neighbors | Vietnam the "special relationship" of the parties since 1977; China the builder of the railway, the dams and the debt, about half the external debt owed to Beijing, the Boten and Golden Triangle special zones; Thailand the market and the buyer of the power, the bridges of the Mekong; the ASEAN chair of 2024; the scam compounds of the Golden Triangle zone under Zhao Wei the region's complaint |
| United Nations | Member since 14 December 1955; a least developed country since 1971, the graduation to take effect in November 2026 after the deferrals |
| Memberships | ASEAN since 23 July 1997, the chair in 2004, 2016 and 2024; the WTO since 2013; the Mekong River Commission of 1995 at Vientiane; the Non-Aligned Movement; the Francophonie |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$16 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$2,100 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$10,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 4.8% in 2025 above the 4.2% average of 2021–25 — the electricity, the mines and the tourists; inflation down to 5.6% by December 2025 from above 25% in 2023 and 2024; the kip stabilized in 2025 after losing half its value |
| Economy by sector | Services about 42%, industry about 33% — the power and the mines — agriculture about 15%, employing over half |
| Currency | Lao kip (LAK) |
| Hydropower | The "battery of Southeast Asia" — some 80 dams with a capacity above 11,000 MW, the Nam Theun 2 of 2010 and the Xayaburi of 2019, the first on the Mekong's mainstream, most of the power sold to Thailand and Vietnam, about a third of exports; the Chinese, Thai and Korean builders; the Xe-Pian collapse of 2018; the villages moved and the fish gone |
| The railway and the debt | The Laos–China Railway from Vientiane to Boten and Kunming, 414 km in Laos, opened 3 December 2021 for US$6 billion, 70% Chinese-owned, the country's first real railway — and the debt: public debt about 110% of GDP by the World Bank's count, more than half of it to China, the Lao grid handed to a Chinese company in 2021 for the arrears; the IMF's warnings; the reserves of a few weeks of imports |
| Mining | Gold and copper at Sepon and Phu Kham, the largest exports after power; potash of the Chinese mines; bauxite of the Bolaven; the rare earths of Xaisomboun for China; the illegal gold and the timber |
| Agriculture | Rice, sticky rice above all, on the Mekong plain — the country self-sufficient since 2000; the coffee of the Bolaven plateau; rubber and bananas of the Chinese plantations of the north; cassava for China; the cattle |
| Tourism | About 4 million visitors in 2024 and more in 2025, the Chinese by the railway — Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, the Four Thousand Islands, the Plain of Jars; "Visit Laos Year" 2024 |
| Income classification | Lower-middle income (World Bank); a least developed country until November 2026 |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Wattay International Airport at Vientiane — about 2 million passengers; Luang Prabang; Pakse; Savannakhet; the Bokeo airport of the Golden Triangle zone |
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| Airline | Lao Airlines, the state carrier of 1976, to Bangkok, Hanoi, Kunming and Seoul; Lao Skyway |
| Ports | None — landlocked; Laem Chabang in Thailand and Vung Ang in Vietnam the ports; the Mekong barges from China to Luang Prabang |
| Railways | The Laos–China Railway of 414 km from Vientiane to Boten, 2021, at 160 km/h with 75 tunnels and 167 bridges, the Vientiane–Luang Prabang run of two hours; the 3.5 km Thanaleng spur of 2009 across the Friendship Bridge to Thailand, the first railway; the Thai link to Bangkok through Nong Khai since 2024; the Vientiane–Vung Ang line to the Vietnamese coast planned |
| Roads | About 60,000 km (37,000 mi), a fifth paved; Route 13 the length of the country from Luang Prabang to Champasak; the Vientiane–Vang Vieng expressway of 2020, the first, Chinese-built; the five Friendship Bridges over the Mekong to Thailand, the first of 1994 |
| The river | The slow boats of the Mekong from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang, two days; the speedboats; the ferries of Si Phan Don |
History in dates
| c. 500 BC | The jars of the Plain of Jars |
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| 1353 | Fa Ngum founds Lan Xang at Luang Prabang |
| 1560 | Setthathirath moves the capital to Vientiane; That Luang built, 1566 |
| 1707 | Lan Xang splits into Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Champasak |
| 1779 | The Siamese take Vientiane; the Emerald Buddha carried to Bangkok |
| 1828 | Anouvong's revolt crushed; Vientiane razed |
| 1893 | The French protectorate, 3 October |
| 1945 | Independence declared by the Lao Issara, 12 October; the French return |
| 1949 | Independence within the French Union, 19 July |
| 1953 | Full sovereignty, 22 October |
| 1954 | The Geneva accords |
| 1955 | The Party founded, 22 March |
| 1960 | Kong Le's coup, 9 August; the civil war |
| 1964 | The American bombing begins — to 1973 |
| 1975 | The Pathet Lao take power; the republic, 2 December |
| 1986 | The New Economic Mechanism |
| 1991 | The Constitution, 14 August |
| 1992 | Kaysone Phomvihane dies, 21 November |
| 1994 | The first Friendship Bridge, 8 April |
| 1997 | ASEAN, 23 July |
| 2009 | The Southeast Asian Games hosted |
| 2013 | The WTO, 2 February |
| 2018 | The Xe-Pian dam collapses, 23 July |
| 2019 | Xayaburi dam; the Plain of Jars inscribed |
| 2021 | Thongloun party chief, 15 January, and president, 22 March; the railway, 3 December |
| 2022 | The kip collapses; Sonexay prime minister, 30 December |
| 2024 | The ASEAN chair |
| 2025 | Khamtai Siphandone dies, 2 April, at 101; the census |
| 2026 | The 12th Congress, 6–8 January; the Assembly, 22 February; the graduation from the LDC list due, November |
Records & firsts
| The most bombed country per head | 2 million tons, 1964–73 |
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| The only landlocked country of Southeast Asia | And the Mekong its road |
| The most sticky rice per head | Khao niao |
| The largest waterfall of Southeast Asia | Khone Phapheng |
| The battery of Southeast Asia | Above 11,000 MW |
| The land of a million elephants | Lan Xang, 1353 |
| A communist flag without a star | The full moon |
| Among the highest debts in Asia | About 110% of GDP |
| The Plain of Jars | Thousands of stone jars, 2,500 years old |
| The first party chief from a minority | Thongloun, Tai Neua |
| A domain sold as Los Angeles | .la |
| Out of the LDC list at last | November 2026 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Laos?
The Lao People's Democratic Republic — Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao — proclaimed on 2 December 1975, when the Pathet Lao abolished the monarchy of the Kingdom of Laos, which had been independent from France since 19 July 1949 in the French Union and fully sovereign since 22 October 1953. Laos is the French plural of Lao, the people, written for the three Lao kingdoms the French gathered into one protectorate in 1893, and the "s" is silent; the Lao say Muang Lao or Pathet Lao, the Lao country. Lan Xang, "the land of a million elephants," was the kingdom of 1353.
What is the capital of Laos?
Vientiane — Viang Chan, "the city of sandalwood," or "the moon city" — on the north bank of the Mekong where the river is the Thai border, the capital of Lan Xang from 1560, sacked by Siam in 1828 and rebuilt by the French, the capital of the kingdom and the republic; about a million people in the prefecture and 200,000 in the old center, the smallest and quietest capital of Southeast Asia, with the golden stupa of That Luang above it. Luang Prabang, the royal capital and the World Heritage town at the meeting of the Mekong and the Nam Khan, is the old capital; Savannakhet and Pakse on the Mekong in the south are the other cities.
How big is Laos, and how many people live there?
About 236,800 km² (91,429 sq mi) — a little larger than Utah, about the size of Britain — the only landlocked country of Southeast Asia, a spine of mountains and forest along the Mekong between Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China and Myanmar. The census of 2015 counted 6,492,228 people and the fifth census, of March 2025, is in count; the UN estimates about 7.6 million for 2025, among the sparsest of the region, with some 50 ethnic groups, the lowland Lao about half, and more Lao in Thailand's Isan than in Laos itself.
What are the highest and lowest points of Laos?
Phou Bia, 2,817 m (9,242 ft), in the Annamite Range above the Plain of Jars in Xiangkhouang, a mountain long closed for the Hmong war around it and the unexploded bombs on it; and the Mekong at the Cambodian border, 70 m (230 ft), where the river breaks over the Khone Phapheng, the largest waterfall of Southeast Asia by volume, in the Four Thousand Islands. The Mekong runs 1,900 km along and through the country, half the river's length, and is its road, its border and its power.
What currency does Laos use?
The Lao kip (ISO code LAK, ₭), issued by the Bank of the Lao PDR — at about 21,600 to the U.S. dollar after the collapse of 2022–24, when it lost half its value and the inflation reached 40 percent, so that the largest note of 100,000 kip is worth about five dollars; the Thai baht and the dollar taken in the markets. Clocks keep Indochina Time, UTC+7, all year; Laos drives on the right, having changed from the left in 1975.
Who governs Laos?
The Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the only party allowed since 1975, whose general secretary is the country's ruler: Thongloun Sisoulith, re-elected to a second term on 8 January 2026 at the party's 12th Congress, and President of the republic since 22 March 2021 after five years as prime minister — a Soviet-trained diplomat and the first Lao leader from a Tai ethnic minority; Sonexay Siphandone, the son of the former party chief Khamtai, has been prime minister since December 2022. The National Assembly of 175 elected on 22 February 2026 from the party's approved list is the legislature, and the state's tasks of the five years are the debt, the kip and the graduation from the UN's list of least developed countries due in November 2026.
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