Country profile · Southeast Asia
Laos
Laos is a landlocked country of about 7.9 million people between China, Vietnam and Thailand. The Lao People's Revolutionary Party has ruled alone since 1975. China holds about half of Laos' foreign public debt, much of it for dams and a railway. From 1964 to 1973 US planes dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Laos.
Where Laos ranks
All rankings →Which alliances is Laos in?
All alliances →Who runs Laos?
Laos is a one-party communist state. The Lao People's Revolutionary Party has held power since December 2, 1975, when it abolished the monarchy. Party leader Thongloun Sisoulith was born in 1945 in Houaphanh province. He studied in Leningrad and Moscow, and was foreign minister for ten years and prime minister from 2016 to 2021. The party re-elected him general secretary in January 2026, and the National Assembly re-elected him president in March. In the Assembly election of February 22, 2026, party members won 169 of the 175 seats (chart). The other six were also vetted by the party. On October 5, 2026 the Assembly chose Saleumxay Kommasith, a former foreign minister, as prime minister. Sonexay Siphandone, the previous prime minister and son of a former president, became head of the Assembly. Reporters Without Borders ranks Laos 154th of 180 countries for press freedom. The activist Sombath Somphone disappeared at a police checkpoint in Vientiane in 2012.
- Party members 169
- Non-party members 6
Photo (October 2024): Press Service of the President of Azerbaijan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
Who are Laos' allies and rivals?
China is Laos' largest lender and investor. In June 2026 Thongloun Sisoulith visited Beijing, and the two countries called their tie an "all-weather" community with a shared future. On September 29, 2026 China opened a joint training center and a flying academy at Ban Keun airport, about 50 km north of Vientiane. AP called it China's first facility abroad focused on air power. China says it trains Lao pilots and is not aimed at anyone. Vietnam calls its tie with Laos a "special relationship," set down in a treaty of 1977. Vietnam was the biggest source of investment approved in Laos in the first nine months of 2026. Thailand buys most of Laos' electricity. Laos stayed neutral in the 2025 border war between Thailand and Cambodia. The United States has spent more than $390 million since 1995 to clear its bombs from Laos. Since January 1, 2026, a US travel ban has barred most citizens of Laos from entering the United States.
- Ban Keun China and Laos opened a joint air training center and flying academy here on September 29, 2026.
- Golden Triangle zone Casino zone leased to Zhao Wei's company. The US sanctioned him in 2018. Police raid scam centers here.
- Boten Border town where the railway from Kunming enters Laos. The line opened in December 2021.
- Plain of Jars UNESCO site with 1,325 ancient stone jars in Xiengkhouang, the province with 60% of known cluster bomb contamination.
- Laos
- Partner
Who does Laos trade with?
Laos traded $19.2 billion of goods and electricity in 2025 (Department of Foreign Trade). China is now its largest partner, ahead of Thailand and Vietnam. In 2023, the last year with full figures from its partners, China bought 36% of Lao goods and Thailand supplied half of Laos' imports (chart). Laos sells electricity, gold, copper, potash, rubber and bananas. Electrical equipment, mostly solar panels, was its largest goods export in 2025. Many went to the United States. In 2026 the US set duties of more than 65% on Lao solar panels, and those exports fell 60.5% in the first half of the year. About 80% of Laos' power comes from dams, and about two-thirds of it is sold abroad, mostly to Thailand. Vientiane still has regular blackouts. Electric cars were 36% of new cars sold in 2025, the 13th-highest share in the world (IEA). Since June 2026 Laos has stopped most imports of petrol and diesel cars.
Sells to
Share of Laos' exports
China36.2%
Thailand28.8%
Vietnam10.6%
Australia3.5%
United States3.0%
Goods, 2023, as reported by Laos' trading partners. UN Comtrade.
How much does Laos owe China?
Laos borrowed heavily from China to build dams, power lines and a railway. The Laos-China Railway opened on December 3, 2021. It runs 1,035 km from Kunming to Vientiane, 422 km of it in Laos, and cost about $5.9 billion. Chinese state companies own 70% of it. By the World Bank's count, China held 53% of Laos' foreign public debt at the end of 2024, the third-highest share in the world (chart). AidData, a research lab that also counts the debts of state companies, puts it at 85%. China let Laos put off more than $2.6 billion of payments from 2020 to 2024. Public debt peaked at 112% of GDP in 2022 (IMF). The kip lost about 45% of its value against the dollar in 2022 and 2023, and inflation reached 41.3% in February 2023. Debt fell to 80.6% of GDP in 2025, but the IMF still calls it unsustainable. Laos borrowed again on world markets in November 2025 and October 2026.
China's share of foreign public debt, end of 2024
Full ranking →
Equatorial Guinea92.6%
Republic of the Congo55.7%- Laos53.0%
Tonga50.8%
Djibouti50.5%
Vanuatu44.6%
DR Congo44.4%
Guinea40.3%
World Bank International Debt Statistics, 2025 edition
Why is Laos called the most bombed country in history?
From 1964 to 1973, during the war in neighboring Vietnam, US planes flew about 580,000 bombing missions over Laos. That is one every eight minutes for nine years. The planes dropped more than two million tons of bombs on a country of about three million people. Campaigners call Laos the most heavily bombed country per person in history. About 270 million cluster bomblets fell, and up to 30% may have failed to explode. These bombs killed or injured more than 50,000 people from 1964 to 2008, about 20,000 of them after the war. In 2025 they killed six people and injured 19. Teams have cleared about 1,016 square km since 1996, but 2,540 square km are still known to be contaminated. The United States is by far the largest donor for clearance, but a US aid freeze halted work in early 2025 until the money resumed. Laos joined the treaty that bans cluster munitions in 2009 and hosted its review conference in Vientiane in September 2026.