Cambodia

Life expectancy at birth: 68.2 years (2014)

Cambodia is a small South-east Asian nation comprised of mostly (young) ethnic Khmer. It has a long and rich history and a strong culture, however suffered much under the regime of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot. Due to the excesses of the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese occupation, most Cambodians (65.3% of the population) are under the age of thirty.

While Cambodia has a king, (Norodom Sihamoni) the country is also a democracy, with the government headed by a Prime Minister, currently Hun Sen.

The major economic challenge for Cambodia over the next decade will be fashioning an economic environment in which the private sector can create enough jobs to handle Cambodia’s demographic imbalance. The population lacks education and productive skills, particularly in the poverty-ridden countryside, which suffers from an almost total lack of basic infrastructure.  Poverty levels are decreasing, but many families remain vulnerable to poverty, hovering just above the poverty line.

Corruption, human trafficking, poverty and the legacy of Pol Pot have all taken their toll on this emerging but vibrant nation.

(Data sourced from the World Bank and United Nations sites, December 2016)

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