Atlas of Laos: Spatial Structures of the Economic and Social Development of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

161 Pages·2000·21.461 MB·English

by  Bounthavy Sisouphanthong, Christian Taillard

ATLAS OF LAOS
Contributors:
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Co-author: Bounthavy Sisouphanthong (National Statistical Centre).
Coordinator: Vixay Xaovana (National Statistical Centre).
Cartography: Souphab Kuouangvichith (National University of Laos).
Statistical data: Phongxay Phimpachanh (National Statistical Centre).
Administrative maps: Khamkhong Detchanthachack (National Geographic Department).
Scientific Committee and Lao translation: Sisaliao Svengsuksa, Khamphao Phonekeo and Phou Rasphone.
France
Co-author: Christian Taillard (LASEMA-CNRS).
Data analysis and modelling: Michel Vigouroux (Université Paul Valéry-Montpellier III, Libergéo) and Franck Auriac
(University of Avignon, Libergéo).
Statistical cartography: Patrick Brossier (Université Paul Valéry-Montpellier III, Libergéo).
Cartography: Guérino Sillère (CNRS, Libergéo) and Géodimensions.
Editing, design and layout: Roger Brunet (Libergéo) and Régine Vanduick (Libergéo).
English translation: Madeleine Grieve.
This atlas is the result of scientific cooperation financed by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and
the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The English edition is sponsored by the Swedish International Development Agency
through the Laotian-Swedish statistical cooperation project.
The Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) is funded by the governments of Denmark,
Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden via the Nordic Council of Ministers, and works to
encourage and support Asian studies in the Nordic Countries. In so doing, NIAS has
published well in excess of one hundred books in the last three decades.
Atlas of Laos
The Spatial Structures of Economic
and Social Development of the Lao
People’s Democratic Republic
Bounthavy Sisouphanthong
National Statistical Centre, State Planning Committee of Lao PDR
and
Christian Taillard
LASEMA-CNRS, GDR Libergéo-CNRS, France
NIAS
First published in 2000 by NIAS Publishing
Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
Leifsgade 33, DK–2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark
tel: [phone] • fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected] • Website: http://nias.ku.dk/Books/
and
published in 2000 for sale in Asia only by
Silkworm Books
Suriwong Book Centre Building, 54/1, Sridonchai Road, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
E-Mail: [email protected] • Web site: http://www.silkwormbooks.com
Originally published in France in 2000 as
Atlas de la République démocratique populaire lao
by CNRS-Libergéo and La Documentation française
Publication of the English edition was assisted by a grant from
the National Statistical Centre, Vientiane, in association with the
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).
©CNRS-GDR Libergéo and La Documentation française 2000
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bounthavy, Sisouphanthong
Atlas of Laos : spatial structures of the economic and social
development of the Lao people’s democratic republic
1.Laos - Maps 2.Laos - Economic conditions - 20th century -
Maps 3. Laos - Social conditions - 20 th century - Maps
4. Laos - Statistics
I.Title II.Taillard, Christian
912.5’94
ISBN 87-87062-87-9 (NIAS)
ISBN 974-7551-41-1 (Silkworm)
Typesetting by CNRS-Libergéo
Printed and bound in Thailand
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Foreword
The Atlas of Laos is one of the most important projects axis, which places the Laotian capital on the international
undertaken under the agreement on scientific and technical axis linking Bangkok to Hanoi. The South is structured
cooperation between Lao PDR and France. The atlas maps around the meridian axis along the Mekong Valley and
data gathered by the State Planning Committee's National around the transverse axes that connect the river to the
Statistical Centre, notably the population and housing South China Sea and includes the new economic
census conducted in 1995 as part of a statistical development zone around the Bolovens Plateau.
cooperation project between Lao PDR and Sweden.
With the aid of computerised statistical cartography,
The Laotian government authorised the use of statistical which makes it possible to update the maps as soon as
data gathered by the various ministries so that small-scale new data is available, this atlas studies the integration of
cartography could be produced, on the level of the 133 these three regions into the national territory. It also
districts that constitute the administrative structures of the analyses the new position occupied by Lao PDR in the
country. reorganisation of continental South-East Asia and in a
rapidly changing world.
This socio-economic atlas has two aims. First, through the
use of sectoral data, it seeks to assist the Laotian and Lastly, the atlas stresses the importance of the policy of
international scientific community in their analysis of the openness pursued by the Laotian government in the era of
territorial structures of economic and social development globalisation. Lao PDR's integration into ASEAN, its
in Laos. Secondly, it is an instrument that enables Laotian support for the economic development of the northern
planners to base national development strategy on quadrangle of the Indochinese Peninsula and for projects
scientific analysis and promote balanced utilisation of the in the Greater Mekong Subregion all bear witness to this s
o
country's natural and human resources. commitment to openness. The appeal to other countries a
L
and to international organisations to participate in these
f
o
The atlas redefines the three regions that structure the programmes should continue to ensure stability,
s
a
national territory. The North is centred on the Luang- democracy and peace in the region and in the world.
Atl
phrabang–Oudomxay–Luangnamtha axis, which gives
access to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in Bouathong Vonglokham
China. The Centre converges on the Vientiane– Xamneua Chairman, State Planning Committee
5
CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Chapter3.
Acomputerised atlas, the product of Franco-Laotian Population dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
scientific cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Population growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Statistical, spatial and temporal references of the atlas 9 Migration balances in the districts and migration flows in
Technical and methodological bases for statistical
Vientiane municipality (1985-1995) . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Migration flows in Luangphrabang and Thakhek (1985-
1995) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Chapter1.
Migration flows in Savannakhet and Pakse (1985-1995) 54
Territory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Migration excluding Vientiane municipality
Territorial organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 (1985-1995) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Relief and settlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Problems of accessibility due to unexploded ordnance 58
Road network and accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Forest environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Chapter4.
Land use and human environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Level of education, activity and employment . . . . . 60
Manpower by sector and distribution of wealth . . . . . 24 Household characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Public and foreign investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Laos in South-East Asia: settlement and demographic
Level of education and economically inactive population66
indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Activity and unemployment rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Laos in South-East Asia: crop area and economic
Manpower by economic sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Spatial structures of the population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Chapter2.
Chapter5.
Settlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Ethnolinguistic families: Tai-Kadai and Austro-Asiatics 34 Crop systems and manpower in agriculture . . . . . . . . . 76
Ethnolinguistic families: Miao-Yao and Tibeto-Burman;
Rice cultivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
religious affiliations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Other food crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Urban population and tenure status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Cash crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Housing: urban population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Livestock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Housing: whole population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Food balances and forestry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Spatial structures of settlement and housing . . . . . . . . 44 Spatial structures of agriculture and livestock . . . . . . . 88
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Chapter6. Chapter9.
Industry, mining and energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Education, health and culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Industry (1994 and 1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Health infrastructure and manpower in health . . . . . . 136
Agro-processing, textiles and garments (1994 and 1995) 94 Manpower in health and education, pre-school
Timber and furniture, chemicals and plastics and primary education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
(1994 and 1995) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Secondary, technical and higher education, and teacher
Machinery and vehicles, public works and construction training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
(1994 and 1995) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Culture, manpower in culture and public administration 142
Mining, electricity and water (1995 and 1996) . . . . . . 100 Spatial structures of health and education . . . . . . . . . . 144
Supply and consumption of electricity and water . . . 102
Spatial structures of industry, mining and energy . . . 104 Chapter10.
Spatial organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Chapter7.
The territorial entities according to the district
Transport, post and telecommunications . . . . . . . . . 106
classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Road, river and air transport networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Identifying eight territorial entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Vehicle fleet, river and road traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Cultural and natural spatial divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Air traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Historical partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Postal and telecommunications networks . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The return of transnational networks in the Indochinese
Postal and telephone traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Peninsula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Spatial structures of transport, post
The network of networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
and telecommunications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Settlement patterns and accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Chapter8. Amodel of the spatial dynamics of Lao PDR . . . . . . . 156
Trade and tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Regional planning perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Trading businesses and banks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Retail trade: household ownership of durable goods 12’ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Tourist flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Tourist infrastructure and manpower in market services 128
Foreign trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Spatial structures of trade and tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
7
Introduction
The Atlas of Laos: The Spatial Structures of Economic its development strategies; to reduce territorial
and Social Developmentof the Lao People’s Democratic inequalities; to give regional scope to planning; and to
Republic is the first atlas of its kind produced in Laos. It promote the regional integration of the countries of the
was preceded only by the Atlas of Lao PDR, a booklet Indochinese Peninsula by highlighting their
published by the National Geographic Department in complementarities.
1995. Although that publication had the merit of This type of atlas contributes to the reflection
demonstrating the value of this type of exercise, it was initiated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on
only 25 pages long and was limited by the data available development in the Greater Mekong subregion, which
(around a dozen socio-economic maps). includes China’s Yunnan province. The capacity to update
the maps rapidly, through computerised cartography, will
Acomputerised atlas, the product of Franco-Laotian improve monitoring and evaluation of territorial
scientific cooperation development policies. The three editions of the atlas—in
The results of the 1995 census of population and Lao, French and English—will facilitate cooperation
housing, conducted by a joint team from Laos and between technical ministries; between central, provincial
Sweden, provided much-needed quality data. This was the and district administrations; and between Laotian
first reliable census conducted in Laos. No general economic agents and their foreign partners. The atlas will
censuses were carried out during the colonial period and also be a valuable tool for Laotian secondary and
only urban censuses were possible during the years of university students and teachers.
insecurity that followed. The population census carried The National Statistical Centre appointed a team
out in 1985, ten years after the country’s reunification, to carry out this joint scientific project. In addition to the
provided the first nationwide evaluation, although it had a centre’s director and deputy director, the group
number of shortcomings. The use of computer processing comprised: the deputy director of the National
and small-scale geo-referencing (at the level of village, Geographic Department, who provided the administrative
district and province) in the 1995 census made statistical maps at district level; the dean of the faculty of social
mapping possible. With this new information available, science at the National University, who was responsible
the Laotian National Statistical Centre, in cooperation for the cartography; the scientific editor of the university
with the Research Centre for South-East Asia and the geography manual, a PhD from the University of
Austronesian World (LASEMA) at the National Centre Bordeaux, who was in charge of the translation into Lao;
n for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the geographical and two other Laotian geographers responsible for
o
research network RECLUS (now Libergéo) in France, revising the translation. The cooperation agreement for
i
ct
u decided to produce an atlas of Laos, along the lines of the the project was signed in December 1996. The years 1997
d
o Atlas of Vietnam published in 1993, and the Atlas of and 1998 were spent training the Laotian participants,
r
nt Thailand, due to be published at the end of 2000. The collecting and processing the data and constructing the
I
objectives of the exercise were: to process the maps during research visits by the Laotian partners to
territorialised statistical data to make it easier for the State France and by the French partners to Laos. The atlas was
Planning Committee to integrate a spatial dimension into edited during 1999, and in early 2000 the scientific results
8
were presented to users and a training course in automatic of variable quality. Some—such as those contained in the
cartography software was organised for staff from the 1995 census and in the specialised, small-scale thematic
statistical sections of the technical ministries. surveys—are of high quality; others—such as the
provincial-level data from the technical ministries—leave
Statistical, spatial and temporal references room for improvement. The statistical units of these
of the atlas ministries have made considerable advances, particularly
There are too few provinces in Laos (17 plus one through computerisation, with the support of the National
special administrative zone, compared with 61 provinces Statistical Centre. Through its extensive use of statistics,
in Vietnam and 76 in Thailand) and the ecological and the atlas has contributed to improving the processing of
human environments they cover are too heterogeneous existing data and demonstrated the value of expanding
(Mekong flood plains, plateaux and mountains; and 2-4 data collection at district level.
ethnolinguistic families) for this to be a relevant scale. The statistics gathered paint a reliable picture of
The atlas is therefore based on the 133 districts that the situation prevailing in 1995 (census data) and in 1996
existed in 1995. This choice allows for interpretation at (socio-economic data). This first national atlas thus aims
two levels: national, where territorial development policy to reveal the spatial structures of Laos at a given point in
is defined; and local, where the development areas are time, rather than to show a process of change. It is a
managed. It also provides a base for constructing reference that can serve as a basis for diachronic analyses
diachronic maps in the future, even if the number of in the future, especially as it has been produced at a key
provinces increases. moment in the country’s evolution. The years 1995 and
The atlas is based largely on the approximately 30 1996 provide a picture of national integration 20 years
variables extracted from the census of population and after the founding of Lao PDR and just before the Asian
housing as at 1 March 1995. It also comprises socio- crisis of summer 1997, which poses a new challenge to
economic data from technical ministries that have district- national development.
level databases, such as the Ministry of Education; and
thematic data, from the Ministry of Agriculture (on Technical and methodological bases
irrigation), the State Planning Committee, the Committee forstatistical mapping
for Investment and Foreign Economic Cooperation, the This atlas was produced with the aid of several
National Tourism Authority and the National Bank of computer techniques. Some of the reference maps—such
Laos. The provincial statistics bureaux that collect data at as the relief, forest cover and mineral resources maps—
district level were also involved, because the information are taken from sources that used remote sensing or a
that reaches national level is usually only aggregate data geographical information system. Others were
for each province. This made it possible to compile data constructed for the atlas using computer-assisted
on health and a consistent body of information on crop cartography. These include the maps of the axes and
systems and livestock, which provides a valuable interim nodes that structure the national space, the climate maps,
picture of Laotian agriculture at this level, while awaiting and the maps of the electricity, transport and
s
the results of the 1999 agricultural census, to be published communications networks. Most of the maps were o
a
in 2000. The atlas also includes data collected by the produced using automatic cartography to process L

provinces on banks and industrial and trading enterprises territorialised statistics gathered at district level, or of

in the four urban districts of Vientiane municipality and where this was not possible, at provincial level. Because s
a
the districts of the provincial capitals. of the strong spatial differentiation in Laos, Jenks Atl
The data gathered were subjected to critical method was the most commonly used technique for the
analysis, both internal and external, during the statistical discretisation of data because it is well suited to
and cartographic processing stages. They are necessarily representing extremes.
9