Location
Flag
Quick Facts
Capital	Vientiane
Government	Communist state
Currency	Kip (LAK)
Area	total: 236,800 km2 water: 6,000 km2 land: 230,800 km2
Population	6,521,998 (July 2007 est.)
Language	Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages
Religion	Buddhist 60%, animist and other 40% (including various Christian denominations 1.5%)
Electricity	220V/50Hz (European & US plugs)
Calling Code	+856
Internet TLD	.la
Time Zone	UTC +7

Laos , officially known as the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), is one of the poorest nations in South-East Asia. A mountainous and landlocked country, Laos shares borders with Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, Thailand to the west, and Myanmar and China to the north.