Apart from the Cardamom Mountains in the southwest and uplands in the northeast, Cambodia is predominantly flat. The largest lake in South-East Asia, the Tonle Sap, is located in the centre of the country and surrounded by fertile plains. Beyond the river valleys however, the land is frequently infertile due to scant rainfall and little irrigation. Still, Cambodia remains one of the most heavily forested countries in the region (53% coverage), and the country has a large variety of natural resources including timber, gemstones, iron ore, manganese and phosphate, in addition to unknown quantities of oil, gas and bauxite in the offshore areas and around Tonle Sap (UNESCO 2010). In Cambodia the rainy season lasts from June to October and the dry season from November to May (Foreign and Commonwealth Office n.d.).
Cambodia has a relatively young population with about 32% between 0-14 years old, 64% is between 15 and 64 and 4% is 65 years and above (Central Intelligence Agency n.d.). Life expectancy at birth for women and men are 65 and 61 years old respectively. With 1.5% population growth per year during the last decade, a figure slightly higher than the average in Southeast Asia, it is estimated that by 2020 the Cambodian population will increase from 14.1 (2010) to 18.4 million (UNESCO 2010). Currently, 77.2% of the population live in rural areas (World Bank 2011a) and the country has a population density of about 78 people per square kilometre (UN DESA n.d.).
Approximately 90% of Cambodia’s population is ethnically Khmer. Other ethnic groups include Chinese (1%), Vietnamese (5%), hill tribes, Khmer Muslims or Cham and Laotians. Theravada Buddhism is the religion of 90% of the population. Islam, Animism and Christianity are also practiced. Khmer is the official national language and it is spoken by more than 95% of the population. Some French is still spoken by the older population in urban areas, and English is increasingly popular as a second language among young people (UNESCO 2010).
Cambodia’s per capita income, US$ 802 per capita (2010 estimates, World Bank n.d.(c)), is increasing but is still low compared to other countries in the region. The country sustained a decade of high economic growth until the global economic downturn in 2008/09 when drops in exports, tourist arrivals and foreign direct investment affected the economy severely. Growth recovered in 2010 (World Bank n.d.(d)) and GDP is currently growing at an average of 6.7% (Foreign and Commonwealth Office n.d.). An important contributor is the garment industry which currently employs more than 280,000 people - about 5% of the work force - and constitutes more than 70% of Cambodia's exports (Central Intelligence Agency n.d.). At the same time, Cambodia remains largely agrarian with 71% of the labour force engaged in subsistence agriculture. (UNESCO 2010)
As a result of the recent growth, the proportion of people living on less than US$1 per day fell from 47% in 1993 to 32% in 2007. While the country hopes to reduce its poverty rate to 20.5% by 2015, it still remains high and there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor, especially between urban and rural areas (UNESCO 2010).
Following almost 13 years of civil war and 10 years of Vietnamese occupation, Cambodia first gained political stability after the 1998 national elections. Today Cambodia is a multi-party democracy under a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament. The Parliament consists of the Senate (61 seats: 2 members appointed by the monarch, 2 elected by the National Assembly and 57 elected by parliamentarians and commune councils, serving five-year terms) and the National Assembly (123 seats: members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms). The Prime Minister is the Head of Government, named by the Chairman of the National Assembly and appointed by the King (Central Intelligence Agency n.d.).
Cambodia is subdivided into 20 provinces and four municipalities (Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Kep and Pailin). The provinces are divided into districts and the districts are further divided into communes and villages (IBE 2011). According to the 2008 Census, there are now 185 districts/precincts, 1,621 communes and 14,073 villages in Cambodia (UNESCO 2010).
Despite strong economic growth, Cambodia is still facing several critical development challenges. Among these is the shortage of skilled workers, which is a major obstacle to further economic development. Moreover, the quality of education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels needs improvement, and the production and trafficking of illegal drugs has become a growing social problem. Despite some achievements in the health sector, the provision of quality public health services is still limited and maternal death rate remains high (UNESCO 2010).
Further halting development in the country is the limited institutional capacity of the government. Factors such as low capacity of personnel, low government wages, lack of incentive schemes and lack of cooperation between government agencies are some of the sources to the problem. In addition, many legal documents do not yet have implementation plans and there is a shortage of resources to carry out the Government’s policies and plans (UNESCO 2010).
