Kingdom of Cambodia is situated in southeast Asia, with Thailand
and Laos to the north and Vietnam to the east and south. At
roughly 70,000 square miles, it is about the size of Missouri.
Cambodia's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, with a population
of 1 million.
Cambodia, a former French colony that won independence
in 1953, was ruled by the genocidal Khmer Rouge in the late
1970s, then occupied by Vietnam, and is now a multiparty democracy
led by King Norodom Sihanouk and Prime Minister Hun Sen.
On May 25, 1993, U.N.-supervised elections were
held in Cambodia. Nearly 90 percent of the populace turned out
for the elections, resulting in the reinstatement of the constitutional
monarchy in Cambodia, now known as the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Cambodia is traversed by three mountain ranges --
the Cardamom Mountains in the west, the Elephant Mountains to
the southwest and the Dankret Mountain Range in the north. It
is home to three major rivers and southeast Asia's largest freshwater
lake. There are still some virgin rainforests in its western
and northeastern provinces.
Cambodia's official languages are Khmer, English
Cambodia has a population of roughly 11 million people.
live in rural areas.
42% are under 15 years old.
29% are from 12 to 22 years old.
35% are literate.
95% are Theraveda Buddhists.
Cambodia is one of the world's poorest nations,
with a per capita GNP (gross national product) of $280 (1999).
More than a third of Cambodia's people live below
the poverty line, and two-thirds of the people have no access
to clean drinking water.
The infant mortality rate in Cambodia is nearly
Agriculture is made more difficult by the presence
of between 4 million and 6 million land mines. These painful
reminders of the nation's war-torn history are scattered throughout
the countryside, where they still injure or kill as many as
90 people each month. More than 35,000 Cambodians are amputees
as a result of land mine injuries.
In 2000, Cambodia had a debt of $2 billion. That
same year, its gross domestic product was $3 billion.
Cambodia's chief industries and products are timber,
rubber, shipping, rice milling, textiles and fishing.
Tourism is the fastest-growing industry in Cambodia.
In 2000, the country saw more than 351,000 visitors, an increase
of 34 percent from the previous year.
The Khmer Rouge killed more than 2 million people
between 1975 and 1979, and they did their best to destroy the
country's rich and ancient heritage. Cambodia's most famous
temples, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, remain relatively unscathed.
Cambodia's beautiful and highly stylized royal ballet,
perhaps the country's best-known art form, continues because
of the determination of a few surviving dancers.
Apart from Cambodian New Year, which features dancing
and temple visits, the Water Festival is the most extravagant
and exuberant festival in the Khmer calendar. Starting on the
day of the full moon in late October or early November, up to
a million people flock to the banks of the Tonle Sap and Mekong
Rivers in Phnom Penh to watch traditional boats racing on a
huge scale. More than 2,500 paddlers compete in a contest that
dates back to the age of the powerful Khmer Empire, which was
thought to have peaked during the 12th century.
In the ninth lunar month, Cambodians celebrate Pchum
Ben, the 15-day-long Buddhist Festival of the Dead. Many families
visit pagodas and temples to remember those tortured and killed
by the Khmer Rouge and to make offerings.
CIA Worldfactbook, 2001, National Institute of Statistics
of Cambodia, Embassy of Cambodia, UNFPA/Personalizing Population,
CNN.com, UNICEF, UN WHO, Cambodia Mine Action Centre, American
Red Cross, The World Bank Group, Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia