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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Population: Estimates vary; July 1994
approximately 4.7
million. Growth rate estimates range from 2.6 to 2.9
percent. More
than 85 percent population rural, early 1990s.
Approximately 9,000
Laotians--mostly Hmong--in refugee camps in Thailand
according to
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for
Refugees as of
January 1995; approximately 1,500 refugees in southern
China, late
1994.
Ethnic Groups: Officially multiethnic nation
with more
than forty ethnic groups, classified into three general
families:
Lao Sung (upland Lao) 10 percent of population in 1993;
Lao Theung
(midland Lao) 24 percent; and Lao Loum (lowland Lao), 66
percent.
The term Laotian is used for the national
population;
Lao for the ethnic group.
Language: Lao, official language; also French,
English,
various highland ethnic languages.
Religion: Provision for religious freedom in
constitution; almost all Laotians Buddhist. Theravada
Buddhism
predominant among Lao Loum and some Lao Theung; animist
beliefs
widespread.
Education and Literacy: Universal, compulsory
education
after establishment of LPDR in 1975 but limited resources.
Enrollments: estimated 603,000 primary school students,
almost
130,000 secondary school students--including lower- and
uppersecondary school--in 1992-93. Universal primary education
goal for
2000. Nine-month school year includes five years primary
school,
three years lower-secondary school, and three years
upper-secondary
school. Those able to read and write estimated by United
Nations at
84 percent (92 percent of men and 76 percent of women)
ages fifteen
to forty-five as of 1985; other figures cite only 45
percent total
literacy; government acknowledges need for improved
literacy.
Health: Health and health care poor. Chronic
moderate
vitamin and protein deficiencies common, especially among
upland
ethnic groups. Poor sanitation. Number of health care
personnel
increasing; concentrated in Vientiane area, where
population per
physician 1,400:1 versus national ratio of 10,000:2.6 in
1989.
Birth rate 43.23 per 1,000; death rate 14.74 per 1,000,
1994
estimates. Life expectancy at birth 50.16 years male,
53.28 years
female, 1994 estimates.
Data as of July 1994
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