Languages spoken in Laos
Vientiane
7647000
The main language spoken in Laos is:
Lao - the sole official language, spoken by the majority of the population.
Laos is ethnically diverse, home to numerous minority groups who speak their own languages alongside Lao.
Lao is the sole official language of Laos.
| Geography |
Location: Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam; landlocked
Map references: Southeast Asia
Area:
total: 236,800 sq km
Land boundaries:
border countries: Burma, Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vietnam (5 countries)
Geography - note: a sparsely populated, ethnically diverse Buddhist country along the Mekong River, one of Asia''s most rural societies; carries the distinction of being the most heavily bombed country per capita in history, with unexploded ordnance still affecting farmland
| People |
Population: 7.6-7.95 million (2024-2025 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 30.1%
15-64 years: 65%
65 years and over: 4.8% (2024 est.)
Median age: 25.8 years (2025 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population 69.0 years (World Bank, 2025)
Nationality:
noun/adjective: Lao(s)/Laotian(s)
Religions: Buddhist 64.7%, Christian 1.7%, none 31.4% (2015 est.)
Languages: Lao (official)
Literacy: total population 75.6% (male 85.1%, female 66.7%) (2023 est.)
Population distribution: most densely populated area is in and around the capital, Vientiane; large communities along the Mekong River on the southwestern border; overall density is one of the lowest in Southeast Asia
| Government |
Country name:
conventional long form: Lao People''s Democratic Republic
conventional short form: Laos
Data code: LA
Government type: communist state
National capital: Vientiane
Background: after centuries of gradual decline, Laos came under the domination of Siam (Thailand) from the late 18th century until the late 19th century, when it became part of French Indochina; the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907 defined the current Lao border with Thailand; following more than 15 years of civil war, the communist Pathet Lao took control of the government in 1975, ending a six-century-old monarchy and instituting a one-party communist state; a gradual, limited return to private enterprise began in the late 1980s; joined ASEAN in 1997 and the WTO in 2013
| Economy |
Economy - overview: least-developed, lower-middle-income economy; hydropower dams on the Mekong (the "battery of Southeast Asia"), copper and gold mining, and the Chinese-built Vientiane-Kunming railway define a small economy now strained by heavy Chinese-held debt and bouts of high inflation
GDP (purchasing power parity): $75.96-82.23 billion (2024-2026 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3.4% (2025)
GDP - per capita: $10,520 PPP (2026 est.)
Inflation rate: 23.1-40.3% (varies by year; 2023-2024)
Unemployment rate: 1.2% (2025)
Population below poverty line: 22% (2013); 15.7% on less than $3/day (2018)
Currency: Lao kip (LAK)
| Transnational Issues |
Trafficking in persons - tier rating: Tier 3 (2025) - Laos does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so