Congo, Democratic Republic of the and Laos Comparison - Examine Similarities and Differences

Country
	Laos
Leader
President: Joseph Kabila	President: Choummaly Sayasone
Population
73,599,190	6,586,266
Life Expectancy
55.740 years	62.770 years
Capital City
	Vientiane (Viangchan)
Largest city
Kinshasa (population: 7,785,960)	Vientiane (population: 196,731)
Human Development Index
0.361	0.608
GDP per capita
	$2,700 US
Literacy Rate
67.2%	68.7%
Corruption Perception Index
1.7	2
Percentage of Women in Parliament
7.7%	25.2%
Wealthiest Citizens

Unemployment Rate
	2.500%
Death Penalty
NA	Abolished in practice

Political System
republic	Communist state
Independence date
	19 July 1949 (from France)
Religions
Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%, Kimbanguist 10%, Muslim 10%, other (includes syncretic sects and indigenous beliefs) 10%	Buddhist 67%, Christian 1.5%, other and unspecified 31.5% (2005 census)
Languages
French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba	Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages
Exports
	wood products, coffee, electricity, tin, copper, gold
External Debt
	$5,953,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
	kips (LAK) per US dollar - 8,760.69 (2008 est.), 9,658 (2007), 10,235 (2006), 10,820 (2005), 10,585.5 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
	0.500%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count

Location
Central Africa, northeast of Angola	Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam
Area
2,344,858 km sq	236,800 km sq
Coastline
37 km	0 km
Climate
tropical; hot and humid in equatorial river basin; cooler and drier in southern highlands; cooler and wetter in eastern highlands; north of Equator - wet season (April to October), dry season (December to February); south of Equator - wet season (November to March), dry season (April to October)	tropical monsoon; rainy season (May to November); dry season (December to April)

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Congo, Democratic Republic of the vs Laos