Islam in Lao People's Democratic Republic: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Lao People's Democratic Republic

Lao People’s Democratic Republic has a total area of 236,800 sq km andits map is presented in Figure 2.4.4. It was occupied by France in 1893and gained its independence from France in 1954. Islam entered here inthe 1970s as Muslim Chams fled the Khmer massacres in Cambodia. By1985, Muslims numbered 1,000 or 0.03% of the total population. Recentcensus data indicate that the Muslim population decreased from 1,133 or0.02% in 1995, to 1,044 or 0.02% in 2005, then increased to 1,605 or 0.03%in 2015. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by0.01 of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population isexpected to be around 0.1% of the total population in the second half ofthis century, reaching 7,000 by 2050 and 12,000 by 2100.