3. is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by
Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east,
Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west. Its
population was estimated to be 6.5 million in 2012. Laos
became independent in 1953, with a constitutional monarchy
under Sisavang Vong. Shortly after independence, a long civil
war ended the monarchy, when the Communist Pathet Lao
movement came to power in 1975.
Laos is a single-party socialist republic. The capital city is
Vientiane. The official language is Lao.