Care & Community - CAMBODIA Country Facts

Cambodia

Population: 14.8 million (UN, 2005) Capital: Phnom Penh Area: 181,035 sq km (69,898 sq miles) Major language: Khmer Major religion: Buddhism Life expectancy: 52 years (men), 60 years (women) Monetary unit: 1 riel = 100 sen Main exports: Clothing, timber, rubber GNI per capita: US $380 (World Bank, 2006) International dialling code: +855

Geography

Cambodia has 443km of coastline bordering the Gulf of Thailand, and has land borders with Thailand, Vietnam and Laos totaling 2572km. It has a tropical climate with two seasons of equal length, the monsoon season and the dry season. Cambodia has low, flat plains and mountains, and the land holds natural resources such as oil, gas, timber, gemstones, iron ore, manganese and phosphates. The environment within Cambodia's borders suffers from habitat loss and declining biodiversity due to illegal logging activities and strip mining for gems. Its coastline is suffering from illegal fishing and over-fishing.

People

Modern day Cambodia has its roots in the Angkor Empire which ruled over the land until the 13th century. The majority of the population consider themselves to be direct descendents of that empire, so the ethnic makeup of Cambodia is as follows: 90% Khmer (Angkor Empire), 5% Vietnamese, 1% Chinese and 4% other. The official language is Khmer and is spoken by 95% of the population. Other languages spoken are French and English. Cambodia's distinctive styles of dance, architecture and sculpture also derive from the Angkor Empire. The main religion is Theravada Buddhism which is followed by 95% of the population and was introduced in the 12th century. Football, cockfighting and an equivalent of hacky sack are all popular sports. Cambodian cuisine is based heavily around rice and fish. The literacy rate is 73.6%.

Brief History

In the year 600, present-day Cambodia came under the rule of the Khmer people who established the vast Angkor Empire stretching over most of Southeast Asia. The Khmers followed the Hindu religion, and it was under their rule that the magnificent temple complex at Angkor was constructed. The Khmers ruled until the 13th century when they were replaced by the Buddhist Kambuja Kingdom. The Kingdom suffered invasions from neighboring Thais and Vietnamese, and steadily lost power until Cambodia was put under French protection in 1863 by the king. In 1887 the French combined Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam to form a single protectorate called French Indochina. French rule lasted for 90 years. Cambodia won independence in 1953 following Japanese occupation in WWII. In 1975, the indigenous Communist guerilla group known as Khmer Rouge overthrew the Lon Nol regime, and ruled for four bloody years under Pol Pot. Pol Pot's desire to transform the country into a Marxist agrarian society resulted in the deaths of roughly 1.7 million people, many of whom represented the country's professional and technical classes. In 1978 the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia. This spelt the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, but also the beginning of a ten-year Vietnamese occupation and thirteen years of civil war. Years of guerilla warfare was followed by a five-year period of uneasy peace starting in 1991. In1997 a coup staged by Hun Sen against Prime minister Prince Ranariddh ended Cambodia's first coalition government. The following coalition government, elected in 1998 managed to renew political stability. Since 1998 Cambodia has enjoyed a period of relative stability and peace during which time the economy has had the chance to expand and the mechanisms have been put in place to charge the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders with genocide. Cambodia is currently under a coalition government formed of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) lead by Hun Sen and the royalist Funcinpec party

Politics

Cambodia is a multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy. Before the 1970's the monarchy had ruled since ancient times. Cambodia became democratic in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took over. In 1985 Hun Sen became prime minister and has since been in power in various coalitions, making him one of the world's longest - serving prime ministers. In 1993 the monarchy was restored and the Kingdom of Cambodia was established. The current head of state is King Norodom Sihamoni whose role is mainly ceremonial. Since 2004 Cambodia has been under a coalition government formed of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) lead by Hun Sen and the royalist Funcinpec party.

Economy

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and despite improvements over the past years the economy still experiences problems and relies heavily on foreign aid. The first year of peace in 30 years, 1999 was the beginning of a period of marked improvement in the economy. Cambodia signed an agreement with the US which guaranteed a quota of US textile imports, and at the same time the tourism industry was expanding which resulted in an average growth rate of 6.4% between 2001 and 2004. This went down to 3% in 2005 when a WTO agreement expired and Cambodia was forced to compete with countries such as India and China who produced textiles for lower prices. However, Cambodia's textile industry was successful and that same year the economic growth rate rose to 6%. The tourism industry continues to grow, and the discovery of exploitable oil and natural gas deposits beneath Cambodia's territorial waters has opened a new door for the economy.

While the textile and tourist industries are Cambodia's main source of foreign income, over 70% of the population do not benefit from this but instead survive from subsistence farming, predominantly irrigating fields for rice production. Roughly 40% of the population lives under the poverty line, and this problem is hard to address considering that 50% of Cambodians are under twenty years old and there are not enough jobs for everyone.