Country · Asia
Laos
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Laos is a country in South-Eastern Asia. Its capital city is Vientiane. About 7.1 million people live there, in an area of 236 800 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Basile Morin (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Basile Morin (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Basile Morin (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Basile Morin (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Basile Morin (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Laos?
Laos lies in South-Eastern Asia, on the continent of Asia.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 2 004 km from the equator.
Laos is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 5 countries: Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Thailand and Vietnam.
How big is Laos?
Laos covers 236 800 square kilometres.
That is about 5.7 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 82nd largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 29.8 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Laos?
About 7.1 million people live in Laos.
That is the 102nd biggest population in the world.
People here speak Lao.
They pay with the Lao kip (₭).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 53 years.
The land of Laos
The land in Laos sits on average 710 metres above sea level.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 5 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Laos different?
A dish the country is known for: Tum Mak Hoong (Som Tum and its Thai name).
Websites from here often end in .la.
Laos and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0.9 live in Laos.
It takes up about 0.18 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Asia it is the 22nd largest of 46 countries, and the 31st most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Laos and its neighbours
China, its largest neighbour, is about 41 times bigger.
China has more people: 1.4 billion against 7.1 million.
Nature and animals
The longest river is the Mekong, running 4 350 km from source to mouth.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Laos?
The capital of Laos is Vientiane. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Laos?
About 7.1 million people live in Laos, which makes it the 102nd most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Laos?
Laos borders Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Thailand and Vietnam — 5 neighbours in total.
How big is Laos?
Laos covers 236 800 square kilometres, making it the 82nd largest country in the world. That is about 5.7 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Laos in?
Laos is in Asia, in the part called South-Eastern Asia.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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