LA
Laos
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Laos sits in South-Eastern Asia and uses LAK - Lao kip (â‚). This profile combines identifiers, formats, map links, memberships, and the largest city records in one structured reference.
Capital
Vientiane
Population
6.7M
Area
236.8K km2
Population
6.7M
6,740,000 people
Area
236.8K km2
236,800 square kilometers
Density
28/km2
Population divided by land area
Capital
Vientiane
17.97, 102.6
Detailed Country Guide
Overview and identity
Laos, officially listed here as Lao People's Democratic Republic, is structured as a practical country reference guide for users searching country facts, maps, flags, codes, and daily-use data. The page should make Laos, LA, LAO, the flag, the official name, and the country slug easy to confirm because users often land on country pages while checking identifiers for forms, travel, education, or data products. Laos is grouped under Asia, more specifically South-Eastern Asia, with Asia shown as the continent context.
Geography and population scale
The country dataset records a population of 6,740,000 people and a land area of 236,800 square kilometers, which gives an approximate density of 28 people per square kilometer. The main coordinate reference is 18, 105, while the capital coordinate reference is 17.97, 102.6. Laos shares listed land borders with MMR, KHM, CHN, THA, VNM, and the landlocked value is recorded as yes. These details help the page answer common searches around location, area, borders, map position, and population comparison.
Capital and urban network
The capital information is recorded as Vientiane (primary). The largest city entries shown for this country are Vientiane, Savannakhet, Pakxé, Salavan and Xai. Including cities alongside country-level facts helps the guide answer searches such as largest cities in Laos, capital of Laos, and major urban areas in Laos. This is useful because many users compare the official capital with the largest business, transport, or population centers.
Government, classification, and memberships
The government type is listed as Unitary communist state. The classification fields mark sovereignty as yes, United Nations membership as yes, observer status as no, and disputed status as no. International memberships shown for this page include ASEAN and United Nations. These fields support search intent around political status, country classification, and international organization membership.
Administrative formats and daily-use data
Laos uses calling code +856, postal format #####, and time zone data listed as UTC+07:00. The number format uses , as the thousands separator and . as the decimal separator. The week starts on monday; the academic year starts around Sep 1; the government fiscal year starts around Jan 1; and the personal fiscal year starts around Jan 1.
Currency, language, transport, and references
Currency data lists LAK - Lao kip (â‚), while language records include Lao. Vehicle data records the driving side as right and vehicle sign codes as LAO. Reference links should keep official, Wikipedia, Google Maps, and OpenStreetMap sources together when available so users can move from the structured country guide to map or source pages quickly. The latest Gini entry in the dataset is 34.7 for 2024.
How to use this profile
This Laos profile is designed to be scanned in layers: first the name, official name, flag, capital, population, area, and density; then identity, geography, cities, governance, memberships, formats, connectivity, currency, languages, transport, and references. That structure supports both human readers and product workflows where users need to verify a phone code, compare cities, inspect fiscal dates, check postal formats, review memberships, or open a map reference without searching across multiple pages.
Country Snapshot
ISO codes
LA / LAO
Top-level domains
.la
Continents
Asia
Border countries
MMR, KHM, CHN, THA, VNM
Driving side
right
Vehicle signs
LAO
Flag And Identity
The flag entry for Laos is represented by the LA country flag asset.
Largest Cities
#1
Vientiane
Viangchan
948,487
primary
#2
Savannakhet
Savannakhét
124,000
admin
#3
Pakxé
Champasak
119,848
admin
#4
Salavan
Salavan
100,900
admin
#5
Xai
Oudômxai
79,500
admin
Governance
Government type
Unitary communist state
Sovereign
Yes
UN member
Yes
Landlocked
Yes
Formats
Week starts
monday
Academic year
Sep 1
Government fiscal year
Jan 1
Number separators
, thousands, . decimal
Connectivity
Calling codes
+856
Postal format
#####
Timezones
UTC+07:00
Languages
Lao
International Memberships
Economy And References
Latest Gini entry
34.7
2024