Laos

A

Ethnic Groups

More than a hundred indigenous ethnic groups and subgroups inhabit Laos, many spilling across borders into neighboring countries. Small minorities of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indians also live in Laos, mostly in urban areas.

The Lao government has classified Laos’s many indigenous groups into three broad categories: the Lao Lum, the Lao Thoeng, and the Lao Sung. The Lao Lum (lowland Lao) account for 66 percent of the population and comprise those groups who live at lower altitudes, speak Tai languages, and practice wet-rice cultivation. Major groups in this category include the ethnic Lao, who make up just over 50 percent of the total population of Laos; the Leu and the Phu-tai; and the Black Tai and the Red Tai, so called because of the colors of their traditional costumes. Modern Lao and Tai ethnic groups descended from Tai peoples who migrated to the Southeast Asian peninsula from the north, arriving in the area of present-day Laos by the 10th century.

The Lao Thoeng (Lao of the mountain slopes) make up 24 percent of the population, live at medium altitudes, speak Mon-Khmer languages, and practice slash-and-burn agriculture. They are believed to be Laos’s earliest inhabitants, having migrated to the area from the south in prehistoric times. The principal members of this group are the Khamu and the Lamet in northern Laos, and the Laven, Sedang, and Nyaheun of the Bolovens region in southern Laos.

The Lao Sung (Lao of the mountaintops), who make up the remaining 10 percent of the population, migrated to Laos beginning in the early 19th century, making them the most recent arrivals among the ethnic groups. They live at high altitudes in northern Laos, where they also use slash-and-burn methods of farming, and speak either Tibeto-Burman or Hmong-Mien languages. The Hmong (also known as the Meo or Miao) are the most numerous and politically influential of the Lao Sung. Others include the Mien (or Yao), Akha, and Phu Noi.

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B

Language and Religion

The official language of Laos is Lao, which is written with an alphabet derived from a southern Indian script. The indigenous languages of Laos fall into four major groups: the Daic or Tai-Kadai languages, Mon-Khmer (a subgroup of the Austro-Asiatic languages family), Tibeto-Burman (a subgroup of the Sino-Tibetan languages family), and Hmong-Mien. A number of the languages and dialects spoken in Laos have never been properly studied by linguists. Some of these languages are spoken by only a few thousand people.

As a state that nominally embraces Communism, with its opposition to religion, Laos has no official religion. Nevertheless, a large majority of the population practices Theravada Buddhism. Even members of the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party attend Buddhist ceremonies. The wat (Buddhist temple and associated monastery) forms both the religious and social center of most lowland Lao Lum villages. Animism (a belief in spiritual forces) was once practiced throughout Southeast Asia and is still practiced by many upland dwellers. Most Lao Thoeng and Lao Sung are animists, although some have converted to Buddhism. Among the Lao Lum, only a few Tai groups are animists. A few Lao practice Christianity, both Protestant and Catholic, and there is a mosque in Vientiane for the tiny Indian Muslim community (see Islam).

C

Way of Life

Rural Lao Lum traditionally live in self-sufficient villages, typically made up of some 40 to 50 households. Houses of timber, thatch, and split bamboo are constructed on wooden piles, with the floor about 2 m (6 ft) above the ground. The agricultural year centers on the cultivation of glutinous (short-grain) rice, the preferred variety among the Lao Lum. Villagers use buffalo for plowing and oxen for pulling carts. Lao Lum form close-knit communities, but families are nuclear—consisting of two parents and their children—not extended. Marriage requires payment of a bride-price (a payment made by the groom to the bride’s family), and the groom normally resides at first with his wife’s parents. When the couple can afford it, they build their own house. Wealthier urban Lao Lum live in spacious villas. In the past, some Lao Lum men took two or more wives, a practice called polygyny, but this practice is now illegal and therefore less common.

Lao Thoeng villages are generally smaller than those of the lowland Lao but are constructed of similar materials. The Lao Thoeng are slash-and-burn farmers, who clear an area of the forest to build a village and plant crops. In 15 to 20 years, when the surrounding forest has been cut and the nutrients in the soil have been depleted, they may move the village to a new area. Lao Thoeng men must choose wives from a clan other than their own. After marriage, a wife resides with her husband’s family until the shared house becomes too crowded and the couple constructs their own. Polygyny is rare among the Lao Thoeng.

Lao Sung villages are similar in size to those of the Lao Thoeng, and like them may be relocated when soils are exhausted. Unlike other Lao, the Lao Sung construct their houses on the ground with a stamped earth floor. They raise numerous pigs and chickens and use hardy mountain ponies for transportation. Their principal cash crop traditionally has been opium, though production is now officially outlawed. Extended families made up of parents, sons and their wives, and grandchildren may number up to 20 people. Polygyny, while formerly widespread, is now illegal.

D

Education

Education for the Lao Lum traditionally took place in the wat, where Buddhist monks taught boys the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Other ethnic groups did not have traditions of formal education. Under French rule, from 1893 to 1953, education was limited to an urban elite. From 1953 to 1975, the royal Lao government developed a modern education system with a Lao curriculum, but even so it catered to only about one-third of the school-age population. When the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party came to power in 1975, it placed great emphasis on education, especially on eradication of illiteracy. It had few resources, however, and standards fell.

By 2000, the literacy rate stood at 64.8 percent. Almost all Lao Lum children of school age attend primary school for six years, and 44 percent continue on to secondary school for an additional six years. The school attendance rates for Lao Thoeng and Lao Sung children are considerably lower, however, and the goal of universal education is still some way off.

Laos has one university, the National University of Laos (1997), located in Vientiane. Regional technical colleges are located in Louangphrabang, Savannakhét, and Pakxé.

E

Health and Welfare

The infant mortality rate in Laos stood at 81 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007, compared with 67 in Cambodia and 24 in Vietnam. Children who survived had a life expectancy of only 56 years, one of the lowest of any Southeast Asian country. Malaria is widespread in Laos, as are other diseases, parasites, and intestinal disorders such as diarrhea. The infection rate of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) increased in the 1990s. While the number of health-care professionals is increasing, the health infrastructure remains inadequate. There is only one doctor for about every 1,700 people. Hospitals are concentrated in urban centers, and village first aid posts lack proper resources.

Laos does not have a developed social welfare program. In rural areas the country’s bountiful climate ensures that no one starves, even in times of drought, as there are always wild tubers to eat and fish and small animals to catch. At times, people do experience real hardship and poverty for which there is no government relief. Welfare is communal, as people help each other to survive. The government pays a small pension to retired civil servants, but there are no unemployment benefits and only minimal disability payments for war veterans.

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