Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a category of cross-border investment in which an investor resident in one economy establishes a lasting interest in, and retains a significant degree of influence over an enterprise resident in another economy. Foreign Investment involves capital flows from one country ...

This section focuses mainly on the production, distribution and use of electrical energy in Laos. In Laos, electricity is a key source of energy for domestic economic activities and its export provides revenue from neighboring countries.4After an economic shift to an ‘open door’ policy in 1986, economic ...

Laos’ total population was estimated by the United Nations Population Fund at 6.9 million in 2017, with an annual population growth of 1.3 percent.50The last formal census was carried out in 2015. All the data referenced here is from the official 2015 Census of Population ...

Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG5) focuses on gender equality and women’s  empowerment, breaking down this topic into nine goals with 14 associated targets. These targets cover discrimination in workplaces and homes, property rights, education and a broad range of other topics related to gender. Goals ...

Lao PDR has been relatively unharmed by the novel coronavirus itself, with no reported deaths. The Prime Minister of Laos began issuing a series of lockdown measures on March 18, 2020, closing schools and restricting non-essential activities. A period of full lockdown lasted almost a ...

Human trafficking is where individuals are placed or maintained in an exploitative situation for economic gain.153 The most common form of human trafficking (79 percent) is sexual exploitation, with victims predominantly being women and girls. The second most common form is forced labor (18 percent).154 ...

A country’s success largely depends on how well it employs its workforce and develops the knowledge and skills of its citizens. The World Economic Forum’s Global Human Capital Report measures the quantifiable elements of how well a country is developing this ‘human capital’. The report ...

In September 2015, the UN General Assembly released the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They were designed to build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)253  and intended to drive action in important areas by 2030, leaving no one behind. These goals were ...

The main laws and policies that govern the electricity supply in Lao PDR are: The Electricity Law 1997, amended in 2012. This governs electricity generation and distribution in Lao PDR. It sets standards for the administration, production, distribution, transmission and imports/exports of electricity.309The Power Sector ...

Laos features a diversity of landscapes and ecosystems. The country is landlocked and heavily forested, with 80% of land cover featuring hilly or mountainous terrain, and the remaining 20% comprising plateaus and lowland valleys along the Mekong floodplain.Land and mineral resourcesForest (including primary and potential forests) covers the ...

Introduction Land use in Laos has recently undergone significant change. While most members of the 50 recognized ethnic groups in Laos making up the Laos population have traditionally had a subsistence lifestyle, collected forest products, and cared for land through shifting (swidden) agriculture, government policies have ...

Social development addresses profound social problems, especially poverty, unemployment and social exclusion, and seeks to define poverty across a spectrum of social and structural barriers instead of simply by income levels. Lao PDR has achieved a number of ambitious goals. Poverty levels have halved from ...

Sustainable Development Goal 15 – “Life on land” – is centered on the protection and restoration of land ecosystems. The goal specifically addresses forest management, desertification, land degradation and biodiversity. To this end, SDG 15 includes 12 targets, each with indicators for measuring progress. The ...

Laos has reported relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases. However, Lao people have still been significantly impacted by both national and international measures to prevent the transmission of coronavirus. Education is one of the services that has been impacted by these measures.Schools were first closed ...

Inadequate infrastructure is often referred to as a major constraint on the socio-economic development of Laos. Thus, it has been a major goal of the Lao government to upgrade infrastructure in line with meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 9. This goal is associated with developing built ...

Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) – ‘Quality Education’ aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.697 SDG 4 includes 10 targets, with 11 measuring indicators. Targets 4.1, 4.5, 4.7 and 4.A involve free, equitable and quality primary ...

With mostly mountainous topography and tropical climate, Laos enjoys an endowment of forest. Laos has one of the pristine monsoon forests in South East Asia. The estimation of forest cover in Laos has been a controversial issue over recent years, due the lack of official ...

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), shortly known as Laos, is a small, least developed country in Southeast Asia, landlocked with Vietnam in the east, Thailand in the west, China in the north, Myanmar in the northwest, and Cambodia in the south, with total ...

A landlocked country of 7 million between the Mekong River and Annamite Cordillera, Laos has the lowest population density in Southeast Asia.875 Forest cover is estimated by the government at 40 percent, which the government aims  to increase to 70 percent by 2020.876 877 Some ...

Sustainable Development Goals 2 (SDG 2) – ‘Zero Hunger’ aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.92 SDG 2 includes 8 targets, with 14 measuring indicators. Targets 2.1-2.2 focus on eliminating hunger and ensuring access to sufficient and nutritious ...