Laos is a small mountainous nation located in the interior of the Indochina peninsula in southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand and west of Vietnam.
Laos has a total area of 236,800 square kilometers, and is slightly larger than the State of Utah. The largest body of water is the Mekong River, which forms the border between Laos and Thailand and provides the main method of transportation of people and goods. The capital is Vientiane.
Laos is a Communist state and the conventional long form of the country’s name is the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The Communist Pathet Lao took over the former monarchic (six centuries old) system in 1975. The current socialist government is closely allied with the government of Vietnam, its neighbor to the east.
The population of Laos is about 6,521,998 (July 2007 estimate). The official language is Lao. French, English, and ethnic languages are also spoken. Buddhism is the predominant religion (65 percent), followed by animist (32.9 percent), Christian (1.3 percent) and other religions.
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