https://www.confiduss.com/en/jurisdictions/laos/demographics/ - Demographics of Laos

The total population of Laos is 6,961,210 people. People in Laos speak the Laotian language. The linguistic diversity of Laos is rather diverse according to a fractionalization scale which for Laos is 0.6382. The median age is approximately 22 years. Life expectancy in Laos is 66. The female fertility rate in Laos is 3.1. Around 3% of the population of Laos are obese. The ethnic diversity is rather diverse according to a fractionalization scale which for Laos is 0.5139. To find out specifics of language, religion, age, gender distribution, and advancement of people in Laos see the sections below, as well as visit the section concerning the education in the country.

Population
In Laos, the population density is 27.8 people per square kilometer (72 per square mile). Because of this statistic, this country is considered to be sparsely populated. The total population of Laos is 6,961,210 people. Laos has approximately 21,801 foreign immigrants. Immigrants in Laos represent 0.1 percent of the total number of immigrants in the world. Immigrants in Laos represent 0.3 percent of the total number of immigrants in the world. The ethnic diversity of Laos is rather diverse according to a fractionalization scale based on ethnicity. Ethnic fractionalization (EF) deals with the number, sizes, socioeconomic distribution, and geographical location of distinct cultural groups, usually in a state or some otherwise delineated territory. Specific cultural features might refer to language, skin color, religion, ethnicity, customs and traditions, history, or other distinctive criteria, alone or in combination. Frequently, these features are used for social exclusion and the monopolization of power. The index of ethnic fractionalization in Laos is 0.5139. This means that there is a relatively high number of unique ethnic groups in Laos. EF is usually measured as 1 minus the Herfindahl concentration index of ethnolinguistic group shares, which reproduces the probability that two randomly drawn individuals from the population belong to different groups. The theoretical maximum of EF of 1 means that each person belongs to a different group. Read below for statistics of Laos on median age and gender distribution at various ages.

Age
The median age is approximately 22 years. The median age for men is 21.7, while the median age for women is 22.3.

Gender
The sex ratio, or the number of males for each female (estimated at birth), is 1.04. It can be further divided into the following categories: sex ratio under 15 - 1.01; sex ratio from 15 to 64 - 0.98; sex ratio over 64 - 0.76; total sex ratio - 0.98. Total sex ratio is different from sex ratio estimated at birth. This is due to the fact that some newborns are considered in the sex ratio estimated at birth but pass away within the first weeks of their life and are not included in the total sex ratio.

Religion
The majority religion of Laos is Buddhism, the followers of which comprise 66% of all religious believers in the country. Buddhism is a nontheistic religion or philosophy (Sanskrit: धर्म dharma; Pali:धम्म dhamma) that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha, commonly known as the Buddha (the awakened one). According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end their suffering through the elimination of ignorance and craving. Buddhists believe that this is accomplished through the direct understanding and perception of dependent origination and the Four Noble Truths. Besides Buddhism, there are several other religions present within the country. Other religions in Laos are Islam, folk religions. The religious diversity of Laos is rather diverse according to a fractionalization scale based on the number of religions in Laos. The index of religious fractionalization in Laos is 0.5453. This score means that there are several major religions distributed evenly within Laos.