Editing Laos (section)

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Demographics of Laos}}
[[Image:Laos-demography.png|thumb|300px|right|Population graph of Laos, number of inhabitants in millions between 1800 and 2021 ([[Our World in Data]] data, 2022)]]
The population of Laos in 2024 is estimated to be 7,953,556, with 3,966,320 males and 3,987,236 females, according to [[The World Factbook]]. This makes Laos the 103rd most populous country in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Laos |date=7 May 2025|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/laos/ |accessdate=12 May 2025}}</ref> 

=== Ethnicity ===
The people of Laos are categorised by their distribution by [[elevation]] (lowlands, midlands and upper high lands), as this somewhat correlates with ethnic groupings. More than half of the nation's population is ethnic Lao—the principal lowland inhabitants.<ref name="UN Demographic Yearbooks">{{cite web| url = http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2.htm#2001| title = UN Demographic Yearbooks| access-date = 30 November 2018| archive-date = 27 December 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161227194033/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2.htm#2001| url-status = live}}</ref> The Lao belong to the [[Tai languages|Tai]] linguistic group<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diller |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lmQAgAAQBAJ&dq=kra=Kadai&pg=PA6 |title=The Tai-Kadai Languages |last2=Edmondson |first2=Jerry |last3=Luo |first3=Yongxian |date=2004-11-30 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-79116-2 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410140148/https://books.google.com/books?id=0lmQAgAAQBAJ&dq=kra%3DKadai&pg=PA6 |archive-date=10 April 2023}}</ref> who began migrating south from China in the first millennium CE.<ref>[http://www.manusya.journals.chula.ac.th/files/essay/Pittayawat%2047-68.pdf Pittayaporn, Pittayawat (2014). Layers of Chinese Loanwords in Proto-Southwestern Tai as Evidence for the Dating of the Spread of Southwestern Tai] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627063518/http://www.manusya.journals.chula.ac.th/files/essay/Pittayawat%2047-68.pdf |date=27 June 2015 }}. ''MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities,'' Special Issue No 20: 47–64.</ref> 10% belong to other "lowland" groups, which together with the Lao people make up the [[Lao Loum]] (lowland people).<ref name="UN Demographic Yearbooks"/>

In the central and southern mountains, [[Mon-Khmer]]-speaking groups, known as [[Lao Theung]] or mid-slope Laotians, predominate. Other terms are Khmu, Khamu (Kammu) or Kha as the Lao Loum refer to them to indicate their [[Austroasiatic]] language affiliation. The latter is considered pejorative, meaning 'slave'. They were the indigenous inhabitants of northern Laos. Some [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]], [[Laotian Chinese]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ocac.gov.tw/english/public/public.asp?selno%3D1163%26no%3D1163%26level%3DB |title=:: Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission, R.o.c. :: |access-date=23 September 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104195124/http://www.ocac.gov.tw/english/public/public.asp?selno=1163&no=1163&level=B |archive-date=4 January 2011 }}</ref> and [[Thai people|Thai]] minorities remain, particularly in the towns, and some left after independence in the 1940s, some of whom relocated either to Vietnam, Hong Kong, or to France. Lao Theung constitute about 30% of the population.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.omf.org/omf/us/peoples_and_places/people_groups/khmu_of_laos |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109063510/http://www.omf.org/omf/us/peoples_and_places/people_groups/khmu_of_laos |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 November 2007 |title=Khmu people of Laos. OMF International |publisher=Omf.org |access-date=23 January 2011 }}</ref>

[[Hill people]] and minority cultures of Laos such as the [[Hmong people|Hmong]], [[Yao people|Yao (Mien)]] ([[Hmong–Mien languages|Hmong-Mien]]), [[Yao people|Dao]], [[Shan people|Shan]], and [[Tibeto-Burman languages|Tibeto-Burman]] speaking peoples have lived in isolated regions of Laos for years. Mountain/hill tribes of mixed ethno/cultural-linguistic heritage are found in northern Laos, which include the [[Lua people|Lua]] and [[Khmu people]] who are indigenous to Laos. Collectively, they are known as [[Lao Sung|Lao Soung]] or highland Laotians. Lao Soung account for about 10% of the population.<ref name="britannica" />

=== Languages ===
The official language is [[Lao language|Lao]], a language of the [[Tai languages|Tai-Kadai]] language family. More than half of the population speaks Lao natively. The remainder, particularly in rural areas, speak ethnic minority languages. The [[Lao alphabet]], which evolved sometime between the 13th and 14th centuries, was derived from the [[Khmer script]].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/2049433|jstor=2049433|title=Languages and Literatures of Indochina|journal=The Far Eastern Quarterly|volume=6|issue=4|pages=379–389|year=1947|last1=Benedict|first1=Paul K.|s2cid=162902327 }}</ref> Languages like [[Khmu language|Khmu]] (Austroasiatic) and [[Hmong language|Hmong]] ([[Hmong–Mien languages|Hmong-Mien]]) are spoken by minorities, particularly in the midland and highland areas. A number of [[Laotian sign languages]] are used in areas with higher rates of congenital deafness.<ref name=britannica />

[[French language|French]] is used in government and commerce, and Laos is a member of the French-speaking organisation of [[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie|La Francophonie]]. The organisation estimated in 2010 that there were 173,800 French speakers in Laos.<ref>{{cite web |title=Laos |url=https://www.francophonie.org/laos-968 |publisher=La Francophonie |access-date=7 February 2021 |archive-date=18 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518191146/https://www.francophonie.org/laos-968 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[English language|English]], the language of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ([[ASEAN]]), has become increasingly studied.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/AXL/asie/Laos.htm |title=Languages of Laos |publisher=[[Laval University]] |access-date=9 July 2012 |archive-date=27 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027231143/http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/AXL/asie/Laos.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in Laos}}
[[File:Vat_Nong_Sikhounmuang.jpg|right|thumb|Wat Nong Sikhounmuang pagoda in [[Luang Prabang]]]]
66% of Laotians were [[Theravada]] Buddhist, 1.5% Christian, 0.1% Muslim, 0.1% Jewish, and 32.3% were other or traditional (mostly practitioners of [[Tai folk religion|Satsana Phi]]) in 2010.<ref name="globalReligion">{{cite web |title=Global Religious Landscape; Table: Religious Composition by Country |url=https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2012/12/globalReligion-tables.pdf |website=Pew Research |access-date=16 April 2020 |page=47 |date=2010 |archive-date=23 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323215031/http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2012/12/globalReligion-tables.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="cia.gov" />

=== Health ===
{{Main|Health in Laos}}
[[File:VientianeHospital.jpg|thumb|[[Mahosot Hospital]] in Vientiane]]
Male [[life expectancy at birth]] was at 62.6 years and female life expectancy was at 66.7 years in 2017.<ref name="cia.gov">{{Citation |title=Laos |date=2025-05-14 |work=The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/laos/ |access-date=2025-05-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307193820/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/laos/ |archive-date=7 March 2021 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref> Healthy life expectancy was 54 years in 2007.<ref name="hdrstats.undp.org">{{cite web|url=http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_LAO.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707000524/http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_LAO.html|archive-date=7 July 2010|title=Human Development Report 2009. Lao People's Democratic Republic |publisher=HDRstats.undp.org |access-date=27 June 2010}}</ref> Government expenditure on health is about 4% of GDP,<ref name="hdrstats.undp.org"/> about US$18 (PPP) in 2006.<ref name="hdrstats.undp.org"/>

=== Education ===
{{Main|Education in Laos}}
{{See also|National Library of Laos}}
[[File:National University of Laos(NUOL)ມ.ຊ - panoramio.jpg|thumb|[[National University of Laos]] in Vientiane]]

The adult [[literacy]] rate for women in 2017 was 62.9%; for adult men, 78.1%.<ref name="LSIS-II">{{cite book|title=Lao Social Indicator Survey II 2017, Survey Findings Report|date=2018|publisher=Lao Statistics Bureau and UNICEF|location=Vientiane|url=https://laopdr.un.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/2017%20MICS%20Social%20Indicator%20Survey%20II%20Survey_Findings%20Report_0.pdf|access-date=26 January 2021|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429023811/https://laopdr.un.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/2017%20MICS%20Social%20Indicator%20Survey%20II%20Survey_Findings%20Report_0.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{RP|39–40}}

In 2004, the net primary enrollment rate was 84%.<ref name="hdrstats.undp.org"/> Laos was ranked 111st in the [[Global Innovation Index]] in 2024.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.wipo.int/web-publications/global-innovation-index-2024/en/|title=Global Innovation Index 2024. Unlocking the Promise of Social Entrepreneurship|access-date=2024-10-22|author=[[World Intellectual Property Organization]]|year=2024|isbn=978-92-805-3681-2|doi= 10.34667/tind.50062|location=Geneva|publisher=WIPO|page=18}}</ref>