Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia. It borders Thailand to the west and northwest, Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the south. You may know Cambodia because of the iconic Angkor Wat, the biggest religious structure in the world, or because Angelina Jolie adopted a baby from there. Or you might know Cambodia for it’s darker side. The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), commonly known as the Khmer Rouge, was the ruling party of Cambodia from 1975 until 1979, led by Pol Pot. On April 17, 1975, the group captured Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and began what became the systematic murder of 25% of the country’s population. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, grandparents, farmers, government officials, journalists, doctors, musicians, academics teachers, and educated people from all walks of life were targeted – they died from starvation, overwork, and execution. The reign of terror lasted until January 7, 1979: three years, eight months, and seven days.
Cambodia was left ravaged.
So what is Cambodia like today?
- Population: 13,395,682 [1]
- Percentage of population that live in rural areas: 80% [2]
- Percentage of the population that is less than 21 years old: around 50% [3]
- Life expectancy at birth: 61 years [4]
- Population living below the poverty line: 30% [5]
- Children under weight: 28.8% [6]
- Net enrollment rate for Lower Secondary Schools: 31.9 [7]
- Babies that will die before their first birthday: 5% [8]
- (Cambodia has one of the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the region) [9]
- Pregnant women who have a skilled attendant present at delivery: 58% [10]
- Women over the age of 15 who cannot read and write in Khmer: 36% [11]
- Hectares of land contaminated by land mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW): 117,798 [12]
- Percentage of land contaminated by land mines and ERWs: 45% [13]
- Casualties from land mines and ERWs in 2009: 243 [14]
[1] National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning Cambodia (2008 Cenusus)
[2] UNDP Country Information (Cambodia)
[3] Ibid
[4] The World Bank: Country data (Cambodia)
[5] Ibid
[6] UNDP Report on Millenium Development Goals (Goal 1)
[7] UNDP Report on Millenium Development Goals (Goal 2)
[8] UNDP Report on Millenium Development Goals (Goal 4)
[9] UNDP Report on Millenium Development Goals (Goals 4 & 5)
[10] UNDP Report on Millenium Development Goals (Goal 5)
[11] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cb.html
[12] UNDP Report on Millenium Development Goals (Goal 9)
[13] Ibid
[14] Ibid
