Laos
Laos (officially Lao People's Democratic Republic) is a country in South-Eastern Asia, with its capital at Vientiane, and is home to roughly 7.8M people.
Lao is the official language; the currency in circulation is Lao kip (₭); people from here are called Laotian.
> INTEL_
> NOTABLE_
- »It is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia.
- »Laos is among the most heavily bombed countries per capita in history, and unexploded ordnance remains a hazard.
> BORDERS_
Laos touches five neighbours: Cambodia to the south, China to the north, Myanmar to the northwest, Thailand to the southwest and Vietnam to the southeast. Directions run from one centre to the other.
> THE CAPITAL_
Vientiane sits on a bend of the Mekong facing Thailand. Its name derives from a Pali phrase meaning 'city of sandalwood'.
> SCALE_
228,947 km² (88,397 sq mi), 82nd largest of 198 countries and territories on file, almost exactly the size of Romania.
Population 7,769,819, 103rd of 198 on file. That averages 34 per km² (88 per sq mi).
> THE FLAG_
The white disc is the full moon over the Mekong, and a symbol of unity. Laos is one of the few communist states whose flag carries no red star.