Lao PDR is the most bombed country in the world per capita. More than 1.3 million tonnes of ordnance was dropped on the country between 1964 and 1973.
Up to 30 per cent of some types of ordnance did not detonate. More than three decades since the bombing ended, unexploded ordnance (UXO) still contaminates the ground, affecting a quarter of all villages.
UXO injures and kills
UXO continues to kill and injure. There were at least 50,000 UXO casualties between 1964 and mid-2008. Accident records for 2008 are not yet complete, but extrapolating the data already available indicates that there may have been a doubling of casualties from 2007, to about 600.
UXO keeps people in poverty
UXO contamination also keeps people poor by preventing them from using land. It is therefore is one of the prime factors limiting long-term development in Lao PDR. It diminishes food security and denies access to basic services, resulting in widespread poverty amongst rural populations.
PovertyLao PDR is classified as a ‘least developed country’. About 70 per cent of the population live in rural areas. Most of these people are subsistence farmers with little or no cash income. The World Food Programme classifies about half the population of Lao PDR as being either ‘food insecure’ or living on the edge of food security. Food security can be defined as the condition when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. |
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