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Cambodia (capital Phnom Penh)
and neighboring states

Introduction

World Factbook: "Most Cambodians consider themselves to be Khmers, descendants of the Angkor Empire that extended over much of Southeast Asia and reached its zenith between the 10th and 13th centuries. Attacks by the Thai and Cham (from present-day Vietnam) weakened the empire, ushering in a long period of decline. The king placed the country under French protection in 1863 and it became part of French Indochina in 1887. Following Japanese occupation in World War II, Cambodia gained full independence from France in 1953."

Wealth and National Well-Being

Country Comparisons: chart

Economic growth rate
2011: 6.7%
2010: 6%
2009: minus 2%

Labor force in agriculture
2009: 57.6%

Unemployment rate
2007: 3.5%

Export commodities
clothing, timber, rubber, rice, fish, tobacco, footwear

Export partners
2009: US 47.3%, Canada 7.5%, UK 6.8%, Germany 6.4%, Thailand 4.3%, Japan 4.1% )

Income Distribution – gini index
Ranks 46th among 140 countries (higher rank number is more equal, lower rank number is less equal). Lee equal than Britain, which ranks 94th, and more equal than the US, which ranks 45th.

Health expenditures
2009: 5.8% of GDP

People

People living in an urban area
2010: 20%

Ethnic groups
Khmer 90%, Vietnamese 5%, Chinese 1%, other 4%

Religions
1998 census: Buddhist (official) 96.4%, Muslim 2.1%, other 1.3%, unspecified 0.2%

Net migration rate
2012: Net loss of 0.33 persons per 1,000 population per year.

Literacy (15 years and older who can read and write)
2004: males 84.7%, females 64.1%

Geography

Southeast Asia between Thailand and Vietnam. equivalent to 425 by 425 kilometers, or 319 by 319 miles. Capital: Phnom Penh

Government

Chief of state: Norodom Sihamoni, (monarch, House of Norodom) since 14 October 2004. Head of government: Hun Sen, (prime minister) since 30 November, 1998, Cambodian People's Party, formerly a Marxist-Leninist party.

Recent History

January 11, 2009: In the New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof tells of buying two girls in Cambodia, one for $203 and the other for $150, in effect buying slaves, even getting a receipt. He returned them to their villages, without luck for one of them, who was hooked on methamphetamine "and fled back to the brothel world to feed her craving." Kristof writes of brothels owned by police, also of government moves having put about half of the brothels out of business in the last "couple of years.