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Official Name |
Kingdom
of Cambodia |
Geography |
Area:
181,040 sq. km. (69,900 sq. mi.) |
Cities:
Capital--Phnom Penh (pop. 1.2 million), Battambang,
Siem Reap, Kompong Cham, Kompong Speu, Kompong
Thom. |
| Terrain:
Central plain drained by the Tonle Sap
(Great Lake) and Mekong and Bassac Rivers. Forests
away from the rivers and the lake, mountains in
the southwest (Cardamom Mountains) and north (Dangrek
Mountains) along the border with Thailand. |
| Climate:
Tropical monsoon with rainy season June-Oct. and
dry season Nov.-May. |
| People |
| Nationality:
Noun and adjective--Cambodian(s), Khmer. |
| Population
(2005): 14,071,000. |
| Avg.
annual growth rate (2005) 1.96%. |
| Health:
Infant mortality rate--69/1,000. Life expectancy--57
years male; 61 years female. |
Ethnic
groups: Cambodian 90%; Vietnamese 5%; Chinese
1%; small numbers of hill tribes, Chams, and Laotian.
Ninety percent of Cambodia's population is ethnically
Cambodian. Other ethnic groups include Chinese,
Vietnamese, hill tribes, Chams, and Laotian. Theravada
Buddhism is the religion of 95% of the population;
Islam, animism, and Christianity also are practiced.
Khmer is the official language and is spoken by
more than 95% of the population. Some French is
still spoken in urban areas, and English is increasingly
popular as a second language.
|
| Religions:
Theravada Buddhism 95%; Islam; Christian. |
| Languages:
Khmer (official) spoken by more than 95% of the
population; some French still spoken in urban areas;
English increasingly popular as a second language. |
| Education:
Years compulsory--none. Enrollment--primary school,
91.9%; grades 7 to 9, 26.1%; grades 10 to 12, 9.3%;
and post-secondary, 1.4%. Completion rates--primary
school, 46.8%; lower secondary school, 20.57%; upper
secondary school, 8.92%; university, 6%. Literacy
(total population over 15 that can read and write,
2006)--73.6% (male 84.7%; female 64.1%). |
Government
Type: Multiparty democracy under
a constitutional monarchy.
Independence: November 9, 1953.
Constitution: September 24, 1993;
amended March 6, 1999.
|
| Cambodia
is a constitutional monarchy, and its constitution
provides for a multiparty democracy. The Royal Government
of Cambodia, formed on the basis of elections internationally
recognized as free and fair, was established on
September 24, 1993. |
| The
executive branch comprises the king, who is head
of state; an appointed prime minister; seven deputy
prime ministers, 15 senior ministers, 28 ministers,
135 secretaries of state, and 146 undersecretaries
of state. The bicameral legislature consists of
a 123-member elected National Assembly and a 61-member
Senate. The judiciary includes a Supreme Court and
lower courts. Administrative subdivisions are 20
provinces and 4 municipalities. |
Principal
Government Officials
King and Head of State: His Majesty
Norodom Sihamoni
Prime Minister and Head of Government:
His Excellency Hun Sen
President of the Senate: His Excellency
Chea Sim
President of National Assembly:
His Excellency Heng Samrin
|
| Economy |
| Cambodia's
real GDP grew at 5.5% in 2002 and 5.2% in 2003,
with almost all of the growth coming from the garment
sector. Growth in 2004 was strong at 5.5%, with
the garment sector providing the biggest input into
GDP growth. Inflation steadily increased from 1.3%
in 2003 to 3.9% in 2005 to 6.7% in 2005. The national
currency, the riel, was relatively stable over 2002
but depreciated slightly against the U.S. dollar
in 2003. The National Bank of Cambodia made a series
of limited yet effective interventions in 2004 to
keep the riel to dollar rate at roughly 4,000 to
one. The economy is heavily dollarized; the dollar
and riel can be used interchangeably. FDI was recorded
at $142 million in 2000 and gradually dropped to
$121 million in 2004. In 2005, for the first time
in five years, FDI increases to $216 million. In
recent years Cambodia is showing a steady growth
as the progressive economy. |
GDP
(2005): $6.2 billion.
Per capita GDP (2005): $448.
Annual growth rate (2005): 13.4%.
Inflation (2005): 6.7%.
|
| Natural
resources: Timber, gemstones, some iron
ore, manganese and phosphate, hydroelectric potential
from the Mekong River. |
| Agriculture
(32.3% of GDP, 2005): About 4,848,000 hectares
(12 million acres) are unforested land; all are
arable with irrigation, but 2.5 million hectares
are cultivated. Products--rice, rubber, corn, meat,
vegetables, dairy products, sugar, flour. |
| Industry
(25.3% of GDP, 2005): Types--garment and
shoe manufacturing, rice milling, tobacco, fisheries
and fishing, wood and wood products, textiles, cement,
some rubber production, paper and food processing.
|
| Services
(37% of GDP, 2004 est.): Tourism, telecommunications,
transportation, and construction |
| Central
government budget (2005): Revenues--$642
million; expenditures--$812 million; foreign financing--$273
million. |
| Trade:
Exports ($2.9 billion, 2005)--garments, shoes, cigarettes,
natural rubber, rice, pepper, wood, fish. Major
partners--United States, Germany, U.K., Singapore,
Japan, Vietnam. Imports ($3.8 billion, 2005)--fuels,
cigarettes, vehicles, consumer goods, machinery.
Major partners--Thailand, Singapore, China, Hong
Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, United States. |
| Economic
aid received: Pledges of $601 million in
grants and concessional loans for calendar year
2006. Major donors--Asian Development Bank (ADB),
UN Development Program (UNDP), World Bank, International
Monetary Fund, Australia, Canada, Denmark, the EU,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Thailand,
U.K., U.S. According to the Cambodian Government,
95.2% of the $504 million pledged by donors for
2005 was actually disbursed. |
| Principal
foreign commercial investors: Malaysia,
Taiwan, U.S., China, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore,
and Thailand. |
| Exchange
rate (2007): 4,000 riel per U.S. $1. |
| GEOGRAPHY |
| Cambodia
is located on mainland Southeast Asia between Thailand
to the west and north and Vietnam to the east. It
shares a land border with Laos in the northeast.
Cambodia has a sea coast on the Gulf of Thailand.
The Dangrek Mountain range in the north and Cardamom
Mountains in the southwest form natural boundaries.
Principal physical features include the Tonle Sap
Lake and the Mekong and Bassac Rivers. Cambodia
remains one of the most heavily forested countries
in the region, although deforestation continues
at an alarming rate. |
| World
Heritage Site: Angkor Wat (UNESCO World
Heritage Site) |
| Over
a period of 300 years, between 900 and 1200 AD,
the Khmer Kingdom of Angkor produced some of the
world's most magnificent architectural masterpieces
on the northern shore of the Tonle Sap, near the
present town of Siem Reap. The Angkor area stretches
15 miles east to west and 5 miles north to south.
Some 72 major temples or other buildings dot the
area. Suryavarman II built the principal temple,
Angkor Wat, between 1112 and 1150. With walls nearly
one-half mile on each side, Angkor Wat portrays
the Hindu cosmology with the central towers representing
Mount Meru, home of the gods; the outer walls, the
mountains enclosing the world; and the moat, the
oceans beyond. Angkor Thom, the capital city built
after the Cham sack of 1177, is surrounded by a
300-foot wide moat. Construction of Angkor Thom
coincided with a change from Hinduism to Buddhism.
Temples were altered to display images of the Buddha,
and Angkor Wat became a major Buddhist shrine. |
| During
the 15th century, nearly all of Angkor was abandoned
after Siamese attacks. The exception was Angkor
Wat, which remained a shrine for Buddhist pilgrims.
The great city and temples remained largely cloaked
by the forest until the late 19th century when French
archaeologists began a long restoration process.
France established the Angkor Conservancy in 1908
to direct restoration of the Angkor complex. For
the next 64 years, the conservancy worked to clear
away the forest, repair foundations, and install
drains to protect the buildings from their most
insidious enemy: water. After 1953, the conservancy
became a joint project of the French and Cambodian
Governments. Some temples were carefully taken apart
stone by stone and reassembled on concrete foundations.
Tourism is now the second-largest foreign currency
earner in Cambodia's economy, and Angkor Wat has
helped attract international tourism to the country. |
| FOREIGN
RELATIONS |
| Cambodia
has established diplomatic relations with most countries.
The country is a member of most major international
organizations, including the UN and its specialized
agencies, and became a member of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1998. |
| Cambodia
is a member of the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
On October 13, 2004, Cambodia became the 148th member
of the World Trade Organization (WTO). |
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