Laos - Military

Geography - People - Economy - Government - Communications - Transportation - Military - Transnational Issues

Laos is located Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam. The climate is tropical monsoon; rainy season (May to November); dry season (December to April). The terrain is mostly rugged mountains; some plains and plateaus.

Military branches

This entry lists the service branches subordinate to defense ministries or the equivalent (typically ground, naval, air, and marine forces).
Military branches - Lao People's Armed Forces (LPAF) : Lao People's Army (LPA; includes Riverine Force), Air Force (2008)

Military service age and obligation

This entry gives the required ages for voluntary or conscript military service and the length of service obligation.
Military service age and obligation : 15 years of age for compulsory military service; minimum 18-month conscript service obligation (2006)

Manpower available for military service

This entry gives the number of males and females falling in the military age range for a country (defined as being ages 16-49) and assumes that every individual is fit to serve.
Manpower available for military service - males age 16-49 : 1,549,774
Manpower available for military service - females age 16-49 : 1,570,702 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service

This entry gives the number of males and females falling in the military age range for a country (defined as being ages 16-49) and who are not otherwise disqualified for health reasons; accounts for the health situation in the country and provides a more realistic estimate of the actual number fit to serve.
Manpower fit for military service - males age 16-49 : 993,162
Manpower fit for military service - females age 16-49 : 1,052,053 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually

This entry gives the number of males and females entering the military manpower pool (i.e., reaching age 16) in any given year and is a measure of the availability of military-age young adults.
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually - male : 73,973
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually - female : 72,758 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures

This entry gives spending on defense programs for the most recent year available as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP); the GDP is calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP).
Military expenditures : 0.5% of GDP (2006)

Military - note

This entry includes miscellaneous military information of significance not included elsewhere.
Military - note : serving one of the world's least developed countries, the Lao People's Armed Forces (LPAF) is small, poorly funded, and ineffectively resourced; its mission focus is border and internal security, primarily in countering ethnic Hmong insurgent groups; together with the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the government, the Lao People's Army (LPA) is the third pillar of state machinery, and as such is expected to suppress political and civil unrest and similar national emergencies, but the LPA also has upgraded skills to respond to avian influenza outbreaks; there is no perceived external threat to the state and the LPA maintains strong ties with the neighboring Vietnamese military (2008)

More Information about the country

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