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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Figure 5. Population by Age and Gender, 1985
Source: Based on information from National Committee of Plan,
Population Census of 1985, Vientiane, 1986.
Figure 6. Ethnic Groups, 1992
Source: Based on information from United Nations Children's Fund,
Children and Women in the Lao People's Democratic
Republic, Vientiane, 1992; and Laos, National Committee Plan,
Population Census of 1985, Vientiane, 1986.
The first comprehensive national population census of
Laos was
taken in 1985; it recorded a population of 3.57 million
(see
fig. 5). Annual population growth was estimated at between 2.6
and 3.0
percent, and the 1991 population was estimated at 4.25
million. The
national crude birth rate was estimated at about
forty-five per
1,000, while the crude death rate was about sixteen per
1,000.
Fertility rates were consistently high from ages twenty
through
forty, reflecting a lack of contraceptive use. Each woman
bore an
average of 6.8 children.
Birth control techniques were not generally available
to the
population before the late 1980s, although there was
limited use of
oral contraceptives from the late 1960s through 1975. The
government took a pronatalist stance, believing that the
country
was underpopulated. The overall population density was
only
eighteen persons per square kilometer, and in many
districts, the
density was fewer than ten persons per square kilometer.
Population
density per cultivated hectare was considerably higher,
however,
ranging from 3.3 to 7.8 persons per hectare. Because high
fertility
and poor nutrition contributed to the poor health of women
and high
infant and child mortality, the Federation of Women's
Union since
the late 1980s has advocated a policy of birth spacing to
improve
the health of women and their children. Official
prohibitions on
contraceptive technology were relaxed, but use of
contraception was
still low as of mid-1994 and virtually nonexistent in
villages
distant from provincial capitals or the Thai border.
Regional
differences in birth rates as of late 1988--forty per
1,000 in
Vientiane and Bolikhamxai provinces versus forty-eight per
1,000 in
other provinces--reflected uneven access to contraception
(see
table 2, Appendix).
Data as of July 1994
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