Laos Military - 2005

https://allcountries.org/wfb2005/laos/laos_military.html
SOURCE: 2005 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK

Military branches:
Lao People's Army (LPA; includes Riverine Force), Air Force

Military manpower - military age and obligation:
15 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - minimum 18 months (2004)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 1,500,625 (2005 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 954,816 (2005 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 73,167 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$10.7 million (2004)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
0.5% (2004)

Military - note:
Laos is one of the world's least developed countries; the Lao People's Armed Forces are small, poorly funded, and ineffectively resourced; there is little political will to allocate sparse funding to the military, and the armed forces' gradual degradation is likely to continue; the massive drug production and trafficking industry centered in the Golden Triangle makes Laos an important narcotics transit country, and armed Wa and Chinese smugglers are active on the Lao-Burma border (2005)

NOTE: The information regarding Laos on this page is re-published from the 2005 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Laos Military 2005 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Laos Military 2005 should be addressed to the CIA.