Population:
6,834,345 (July 2009 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 40.8% (male 1,400,126/female 1,386,480)
15-64 years: 56.1% (male 1,898,995/female 1,936,892)
65 years and over: 3.1% (male 92,070/female 120,379) (2009 est.)

Median age:
total: 19.3 years
male: 19 years
female: 19.6 years (2009 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.32% (2009 est.)

Birth rate:
33.96 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Death rate:
10.76 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

Net migration rate:
NA (2009 est.)

Urbanization:
urban population: 31% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 5.6% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 77.76 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 86.97 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 68.11 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 56.57 years
male: 54.45 years
female: 58.79 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate:
4.41 children born/woman (2009 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.2% (2007 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
5,500 (2007 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
fewer than 100 (2007 est.)

Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria
note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2008) (2009)

Nationality:
noun: Lao(s) or Laotian(s)
adjective: Lao or Laotian

Ethnic groups:
Lao 55%, Khmou 11%, Hmong 8%, other (over 100 minor ethnic groups) 26% (2005 census)

Religions:
Buddhist 67%, Christian 1.5%, other and unspecified 31.5% (2005 census)

Languages:
Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 68.7%
male: 77%
female: 60.9% (2001 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 9 years
male: 10 years
female: 8 years (2006)

Education expenditures:
3% of GDP (2006)