Laos Military theworldfactbook

Laos Military 2008

Military branches:
Lao People's Army (LPA; includes Riverine Force), Air Force

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:
males age 15-49: 1,500,625
females age 15-49: 1,521,116 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 954,816
females age 15-49: 1,006,082 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 73,167
females age 15-49: 71,432 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
0.5% (2006)

Military - note:
Laos is one of the world's least developed countries; the Lao People's Armed Forces are small, poorly funded, and ineffectively resourced; there is little political will to allocate sparse funding to the military, and the armed forces' gradual degradation is likely to continue; the massive drug production and trafficking industry centered in the Golden Triangle makes Laos an important narcotics transit country, and armed Wa and Chinese smugglers are active on the Lao-Burma border (2005)

NOTE: The information regarding Laos on this page is re-published from the 2008 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Laos Military 2008 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Laos Military 2008 should be addressed to the CIA.