Demographics of Laos

This article describes the demographic aspects of Laos.

Population

Lao statistics bureau estimates

Year	Population	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Rate of natural increase	TFR
1976	2,886,000
1980	3,199,000
1985	3,618,000
1990	4,140,000
1995	4,605,000				41.3	15.1	26.2	5.40
2000	5,218,000
2005	5,619,000				34.7	9.8	24.9	4.50
2009					30.7	8.4	22.3	3.90
2010	6,256,000				29.9	8.0	21.9	3.70
2011	6,385,000				28.0	7.7	20.3	3.50
2012	6,514,000				28.1	7.4	20.7	3.40
2013	6,644,000				27.5	6.5	21.0	3.22
2014	6,809,000				26.6	6.3	20.3	3.03
2015	6,492,000				26.6	6.3	20.3	3.06
2016	6,787,000				24.6	7.7	16.9	2.90
2017	6,901,000				24.0	7.5	16.5	2.82
2018	7,013,000				23.3	7.4	15.9	2.76
2019	7,123,000				22.7	7.2	15.5	2.68
2020	7,231,000				21.2	7.0	14.2	2.50
2021	7,338,000				21.5	6.9	14.6	2.54
2022	7,443,000				20.9	6.8	14.1	2.48
2023	7,546,000							2.42
2024	7,647,000							2.36

Structure

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	2,800,551	2,821,431	5,621,982	100
0–4	351 559	349 356	700 915	12.47
5–9	379 137	370 071	749 208	13.33
10–14	391 785	375 371	767 156	13.65
15–19	323 729	323 540	647 269	11.51
20–24	253 926	261 371	515 297	9.17
25–29	211 279	218 330	429 609	7.64
30–34	176 515	183 480	359 995	6.40
35–39	164 415	165 362	329 777	5.87
40–44	132 335	133 532	265 867	4.73
45–49	113 869	113 298	227 167	4.04
50–54	86 770	91 210	177 980	3.17
55–59	62 691	65 640	128 331	2.28
60–64	50 006	55 008	105 014	1.87
65–69	38 289	41 251	79 540	1.41
70–74	27 652	31 927	59 579	1.06
75–79	17 964	19 208	37 172	0.66
80–84	10 402	12 180	22 582	0.40
85–89	4 631	5 697	10 328	0.18
90–94	1 964	2 781	4 745	0.08
95–99	982	1 393	2 375	0.04
100+	480	936	1 416	0.03
unknown	171	489	660	0.01
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Per cent
0–14	1,122,481	1,094,798	2,217,279	39.44
15–64	1,575,535	1,610,771	3,186,306	56.68
65+	102 364	115 373	217 737	3.87

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	3,254,770	3,237,458	6,492,228	100
0–4	346 462	335 521	681 983	10.50
5–9	345 380	333 829	679 209	10.46
10–14	363 026	355 580	718 606	11.07
15–19	354 360	344 650	699 010	10.77
20–24	325 601	328 436	654 037	10.07
25–29	308 988	307 000	615 988	9.49
30–34	250 383	245 851	496 234	7.64
35–39	212 523	207 560	420 083	6.47
40–44	170 808	173 062	343 870	5.30
45–49	149 656	146 251	295 907	4.56
50–54	127 272	140 146	267 418	4.12
55–59	98 615	98 992	197 607	3.04
60–64	74 106	73 073	147 179	2.27
65–69	47 563	51 338	98 901	1.52
70–74	32 930	38 497	71 427	1.10
75–79	21 871	25 207	47 078	0.73
80–84	13 519	16 671	30 190	0.47
85–89	6 744	8 523	15 267	0.24
90–94	3 041	3 995	7 036	0.11
95+	1 922	3 276	5 198	0.08
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Per cent
0–14	1,054,868	1,024,930	2,079,798	32.04
15–64	2,072,312	2,065,021	4,137,333	63.73
65+	127 590	147 507	275 097	4.24

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	3,622,996	3,608,214	7,231,210	100
0–4	392 890	376 310	769 200	10.64
5–9	397 353	389 566	786 919	10.88
10–14	371 259	362 687	733 945	10.15
15–19	355 474	346 423	701 896	9.71
20–24	346 620	342 462	689 083	9.53
25–29	327 955	325 732	653 687	9.04
30–34	293 003	292 362	585 365	8.09
35–39	254 782	251 614	506 396	7.00
40–44	208 008	206 509	414 517	5.73
45–49	173 373	172 659	346 031	4.79
50–54	143 504	149 136	292 640	4.05
55–59	117 622	123 171	240 793	3.33
60–64	90 651	97 330	187 982	2.60
65–69	62 968	66 823	129 791	1.79
70–74	40 691	45 525	86 216	1.19
75–79	23 916	28 997	52 912	0.73
80+	22 928	30 908	53 836	0.74
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Per cent
0–14	1,161,502	1,128,563	2,290,065	31.67
15–64	2,310,991	2,307,398	4,618,389	63.87
65+	150 503	172 253	322 756	4.46

Health

Total fertility rate and Crude birth rate :
Total fertility rate and other related statistics by province, as of 2011–2012:

Province	Total fertility rate	Percentage of women age 15–49 currently pregnant	Mean number of children ever born to women age 40–49	Adolescent birth rate
Vientiane Capital	2.0	3.8	3.1	37
Phongsaly	3.7	5.2	5.0	145
Luang Namtha	2.6	4.7	4.0	124
Oudomxay	3.6	3.9	5.7	138
Bokeo	3.6	4.9	5.0	149
Luang Prabang	3.1	5.4	5.3	95
Huaphan	3.8	5.9	5.9	137
Xayabury	2.2	3.8	3.8	83
Xieng Khuang	3.6	4.5	6.1	101
Vientiane Province	2.7	5.0	4.1	86
Borikhamxay	2.8	3.9	4.4	79
Khammouane	3.7	4.5	4.9	108
Savannakhet	3.5	6.3	5.4	99
Saravane	4.3	7.5	6.0	106
Sekong	4.5	6.9	5.9	107
Champasak	3.6	5.7	4.7	70
Attapeu	3.6	6.8	5.7	107

Life expectancy

Source: ''UN World Population Prospects''

Ethnic groups

Some specialists are in agreement as to the ethnolinguistic classification of the ethnic groups of Laos. For the purposes of the 1995 census, the government of Laos recognised 149 ethnic groups within 47 main ethnicities. whereas the Lao Front for National Construction recently revised the list to include 49 ethnicities consisting of over 160 ethnic groups.
The term ethnic minorities is used by some to classify the non-Lao ethnic groups, while the term indigenous peoples is not used by the Lao PDR. These 160 ethnic groups speak a total of 82 living languages.
Lao 53.2%, Khmu 11%, Hmong 9.2%, and other 26.6%.