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Lao People's Democratic Republic

Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao

Laos


 
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© 1996-2006
Bob Starkgraf

COMMUNICATIONS

Telephones - main lines in use:
25,000 (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
4,915 (1997)
Telephone system:
general assessment: service to general public is poor but improving, with over 20,000 telephones currently in service and an additional 48,000 expected by 2001; the government relies on a radiotelephone network to communicate with remote areas
domestic: radiotelephone communications
international: satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 12, FM 1, shortwave 4 (1998)
Radios:
730,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
4 (1999)
Televisions:
52,000 (1997)
Internet country code:
.la
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2000)
Internet users:
10,000 (2002)
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TRANSPORTATION

Railways:
0 km (2001)
Highways:
total: 14,000 km
paved: 3,360 km
unpaved: 10,640 km (1991)
Waterways:
4,587 km approximately
note: primarily Mekong and tributaries; 2,897 additional km are intermittently navigable by craft drawing less than 0.5 m
Pipelines:
petroleum products 136 km
Ports and harbors:
none
Merchant marine:
total: 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,370 GRT/3,110 DWT
ships by type: cargo 1 (2002 est.)
Airports:
51 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 9
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
914 to 1,523 m: 3 (2002)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 42
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 15
under 914 m: 26 (2002)
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MILITARY

Military branches:
Lao People's Army (LPA; including Riverine Force), Air Force, National Police Department
Military manpower - military age:
18 years of age (2002 est.)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 1,365,027 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 734,945 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 64,437 (2002 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$55 million (FY98)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
4.2% (FY96/97)
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TRANSNATIONAL ISSUES

Disputes - international:
demarcation of boundaries with Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam is nearing completion, but with Thailand, several areas including Mekong River islets, remain in dispute; ongoing disputes with Thailand and Vietnam over squatters
Illicit drugs:
world's third-largest illicit opium producer (estimated cultivation in 2002 - 23,200 hectares, a 5% increase over 2001; estimated potential production in 2002 - 180 metric tons, a 10% decrease from 2001); potential heroin producer; transshipment point for heroin and methamphetamine produced in Burma; illicit producer of cannabis; growing methamphetamine abuse problem
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