Lao People's Democratic Republic

The only landlocked country in the ASEAN region, Lao PDR is neighbouring Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and China. It is a long, narrow country, stretching about 1,700 kilometres (km) from north to south but only about 100 km across at its narrowest width. The country’s low population of about 6.5 million in 2017 and mountainous topography limit expansion of agricultural development, with only about 10% of the country’s land area used for agriculture. Moreover, agricultural land is dispersed, especially in the northern mountains.