Country profile · East Asia & Pacific · Lower middle income
Lao PDR
Every figure below carries its global rank and its history — and a plain line on what the number means. Figures: World Bank, World Development Indicators (open data), retrieved 2026-07-27.
At a glance
Latest available year per indicator
GDP · 2025
$18.3 bn
139th largest of 214
The size of the economy — everything produced in a year. The headline number every other figure argues with.
GDP growth · 2025
4.5%
63rd fastest-growing of 214
How fast output is expanding, inflation-adjusted. Growth without jobs or wages is where the story usually hides.
GDP per capita · 2025
$2,325
173rd highest of 214
Output per person — the rough proxy for average living standards, and an average that hides a lot.
Inflation (CPI) · 2025
7.7%
36th highest of 193
How fast consumer prices rise. What it understates for poorer households is half the story.
Unemployment · 2025
1.2%
180th highest of 187
The share of the labour force seeking work without finding it — and it counts precarious work as 'employed'.
Population · 2025
7.9 mn
102nd largest of 217
The denominator of everything per-capita.
Exports · 2016
33.2%
107th highest of 193
How much of the economy is sold to the world — openness, measured on the way out.
Imports · 2016
41.9%
104th highest of 193
How much of demand is met from abroad — openness, measured on the way in.
FDI, net inflows · 2024
6.0%
38th highest of 202
Long-term foreign investment into real assets — a confidence signal that is hard to fake and slow to reverse.
Total reserves · 2024
$2.2 bn
127th largest of 179
The central bank's war chest for defending the currency and paying for imports.
Current account · 2024
3.2%
53rd highest of 200
The broadest external balance — trade plus income and remittances. Persistent deficits must be financed.
Government debt
No recent data reported
What the state owes relative to the economy carrying it. Reported patchily — gaps here are common.
Exchange rate · 2024
20167.3
5th highest of 213
How many units of local currency a dollar buys — a running vote of confidence.
Gini index · 2024
34.7
89th most unequal of 171
Inequality in one number: 0 is perfect equality, 100 is one person holding everything. Surveyed rarely.
Life expectancy · 2024
69.2
159th highest of 217
The single most honest summary of whether an economy serves its people.
Extreme poverty · 2024
7.1%
63rd highest of 171
The share of people living below the international extreme-poverty line — the floor beneath every other economic statistic.
What these indicators can — and cannot — tell you: Economics, Explained
The long view
1990 – latest
Put Lao PDR next to any other economy — open the comparison desk — or see where it sits on the world heat map.