Cambogia in a nutshell

Cambodia in a nutshell

The Kingdom of Cambodia shares borders with Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and the Gulf of Thailand.  It is 181,035 kilometres square and is a parliamentary monarchy.  The head of state is King Norodom Sihamoni.

The population of 15 million people speak Khmer and consists of Khmer (90%), Vietnamese (5%) and Chinese, Lao and Cham peoples (5%).

The life expectancy is 60.3 years for the men and 64.2 years for the women while the average age of the population is 22.1 years.  Infantile morality stands at 140/1000.

Some 21.7% of the population is unschooled and 36% of the children are malnourished and underweight.

The state religion is Buddhism and 93% of the population profess Theraveda Buddhism.

Cambodia exports rice, timber, fish and clothing.  Tourism is one of the main resources and in 2010 the country received 2.4 million visitors.  The tourism boom in recent years has attracted foreign investments (thanks also to state laws on tax relief) chiefly in Siem Reap, the city close to the monumental temples of Angkor Wat.

Phnom Penh, the capital, is the most densely populated city with over 2 million inhabitants.