Laos and Singapore Comparison - Examine Similarities and Differences

Country
Laos	Singapore
Leader
President: Choummaly Sayasone	President: Tony Tan Prime minister: Lee Hsien Loong
Population
6,586,266	5,353,494
Life Expectancy
62.770 years	83.750 years
Capital City
Vientiane (Viangchan)	Singapore
Largest city
Vientiane (population: 196,731)	Singapore (population: 3,547,810)
Human Development Index
0.608	0.918
GDP per capita
$2,700 US	$60,500 US
Literacy Rate
68.7%	92.5%
Corruption Perception Index
2	9.2
Percentage of Women in Parliament
25.2%	24.5%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA	Ng Teng Fong & family ($5.5bn US)
Unemployment Rate
2.500%	2.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished in practice	Legal

Political System
Communist state	parliamentary republic
Independence date
19 July 1949 (from France)	9 August 1965 (from Malaysian Federation)
Religions
Buddhist 67%, Christian 1.5%, other and unspecified 31.5% (2005 census)	Buddhist 42.5%, Muslim 14.9%, Taoist 8.5%, Hindu 4%, Catholic 4.8%, other Christian 9.8%, other 0.7%, none 14.8% (2000 census)
Languages
Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages	Mandarin 35%, English 23%, Malay 14.1%, Hokkien 11.4%, Cantonese 5.7%, Teochew 4.9%, Tamil 3.2%, other Chinese dialects 1.8%, other 0.9% (2000 census)
Exports
wood products, coffee, electricity, tin, copper, gold	machinery and equipment (including electronics), consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, mineral fuels
External Debt
$5,953,000,000 $	$23,580,000,000 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)	Singapore dollars (SGD) per US dollar - 1.415 (2008 est.), 1.507 (2007), 1.5889 (2006), 1.6644 (2005), 1.6902 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
0.500%	4.900%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0	1
Location
Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam	Southeastern Asia, islands between Malaysia and Indonesia
Area
236,800 km sq	697 km sq
Coastline
0 km	193 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; rainy season (May to November); dry season (December to April)	tropical; hot, humid, rainy; two distinct monsoon seasons - Northeastern monsoon (December to March) and Southwestern monsoon (June to September); inter-monsoon - frequent afternoon and early evening thunderstorms

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Laos vs Singapore