Cambodia (GPS: 13 00 N, 105 00 E) is located in Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The country’s area measurements are total: 181,035 sq km; land: 176,515 sq km, water: 4,520 sq km. This sovereign state is slightly smaller than Oklahoma. The total irrigated land is 3,540 sq km (2012).
One of Cambodia’s essential features: A land of paddies and forests dominated by the Mekong River and Tonle Sap (Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake).
It’s significant, and at the same time, the principal city, Phnom Penh’s GPS coordinates are 11 33 N 104 55 E. Phnom Penh’s local time is 12 hours ahead of Washington DC during Standard Time. The capital’s time difference: UTC+7.
Google Maps Cambodia and Phnom Penh, Southeast Asia
About Cambodia in detail
Flag of Cambodia
Map of Cambodia
Most Cambodians consider themselves to be Khmers, descendants of the Angkor Empire that extended over much of Southeast Asia, and reached its zenith between the 10th and 13th centuries. Attacks by the Thai and Cham (from present-day Vietnam) weakened the empire, ushering in a long decline. The king placed the country under French protection in 1863, and it became part of French Indochina in 1887. Following a Japanese occupation in World War II, Cambodia gained full independence from France in 1953. In April 1975, after a seven-year struggle, communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh and evacuated all cities and towns. At least 1.5 million Cambodians died from execution, forced hardships, or starvation during the Khmer Rouge regime under POL POT.
A December 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside, began a 10-year Vietnamese occupation, and touched off 20 years of civil war. The 1991 Paris Peace Accords mandated democratic elections and a cease-fire, which the Khmer Rouge was not fully respected. UN-sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of normalcy under a coalition government. Factional fighting in 1997 ended the first coalition government, but the second round of national elections in 1998 led to another coalition government’s formation and renewed political stability. The remaining elements of the Khmer Rouge surrendered in early 1999. Some of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders were tried for crimes against humanity by a hybrid UN-Cambodian tribunal supported by international assistance. In 2018, the tribunal heard its final cases, but it remains in operation to listen to appeals.
Elections in July 2003 were relatively peaceful, but it took one year of negotiations between contending political parties before a coalition government was formed. In October 2004, King Norodom SIHANOUK abdicated the throne, and his son, Prince Norodom SIHAMONI, was selected to succeed him. Local (Commune Council) elections were held in Cambodia in 2012, with little violence preceding prior elections. National elections in July 2013 were disputed, with the opposition – the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) – boycotting the National Assembly. The political impasse was ended nearly a year later, with the CNRP agreeing to enter parliament in exchange for commitments by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to electoral and legislative reforms. The CNRP made further gains in local commune elections in June 2017, accelerating sitting Prime Minister Hun SEN’s efforts to marginalize the CNRP before national elections in 2018.
Hun Sen arrested CNRP President Kem SOKHA in September 2017. The Supreme Court-dissolved the CNRP in November 2017 and banned its leaders from participating in politics for at least five years. The CNRP’s seats in the National Assembly redistributed to smaller, less influential opposition parties. In contrast, all of the CNRP’s 5,007 seats in the commune councils throughout the country reallocated to the CPP. With the CNRP banned, the CPP swept the 2018 national elections, winning all 125 National Assembly seats and effectively turning the country into a one-party state.
Cambodia’s names conventional long form: Kingdom of Cambodia, traditional short way: Cambodia, local extended state: Preahreacheanachakr Kampuchea (phonetic transliteration), local short form: Kampuchea Kampuchea, former: the Khmer Republic, Democratic Kampuchea, People’s Republic of Kampuchea, State of Cambodia, etymology: the English name Cambodia is an anglicization of the French Cambodge, which is the French transliteration of the native name Kampuchea. The English name Cambodia is an anglicization of the French Cambodge, the French transliteration of Kampuchea’s native name.
Cambodia’s terrain is typically mostly low, flat plains; mountains in southwest and north. The country’s mean elevation: 126 m, elevation extremes; lowest point: Gulf of Thailand 0 m, highest point: Phnum Aoral 1,810 m.
The country’s general climate is tropical: rainy, monsoon season (May to November): the dry season (December to April): little seasonal temperature variation.
The total number of border countries is 3, Laos 555 km, Thailand 817 km, Vietnam 1,158 km are the neighboring nations with the indicated border lengths. Cambodia’s coastline is 443 km, while its marital claims are: territorial sea: 12 nautical miles, contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles, exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles, continental shelf: 200 nautical miles. Waterways: 3,700 km (mainly on Mekong River) (2012). Land use: agricultural land: 32.1%; arable land 22.7%; permanent crops 0.9%; permanent pasture 8.5%; forest: 56.5%; other: 11.4% (2011 estimate).
The population in Cambodia 16,449,519 (July 2018 estimate), urban population: 20.7% of total population (2015), major urban area’s population: PHNOM PENH (capital) 1.731 million (2015), while Cambodia has N/A. Their spoken languages are Khmer (official language) 96.3%, other 3.7% (2008 estimate). Main religions in Cambodia are Buddhist (official) 96.9%, Muslim 1.9%, Christian 0.4%, other 0.8% (2008 estimate). The nation uses civil law system (influenced by the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia) customary law, Communist legal theory, and common law. It is a(n) parliamentary constitutional monarchy, National holiday(s) Independence Day, 9 November (1953).
Economic overview for the country: Cambodia has experienced strong economic growth over the last decade; GDP grew at an average annual rate of over 8% between 2000 and 2010 and about 7% since 2011. The tourism, garment, construction and real estate, and agriculture sectors accounted for the bulk of growth. Around 700,000 people, the majority of whom are women, are employed in the garment and footwear sector. An additional 500,000 Cambodians are used in the tourism sector and a further 200,000 people in construction. Tourism has continued to increase, with foreign arrivals exceeding 2 million per year in 2007 and reaching 5.6 million visitors in 2017.
Mining also attracts some investor interest, and the government has touted opportunities for mining bauxite, gold, iron, and gems. Still, Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in Asia. Long-term economic development remains a daunting challenge, inhibited by corruption, limited human resources, high-income inequality, and poor job prospects. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the percentage of the population living in poverty decreased to 13.5% in 2016. More than 50% of the population is less than 25 years old. The community lacks education and productive skills, particularly in the impoverished countryside, lacking the necessary infrastructure.
The World Bank in 2016 formally reclassified Cambodia as a lower middle-income country due to continued rapid economic growth over the past several years. Cambodia’s graduation from a low-income country will reduce its eligibility for foreign assistance and challenge the government to seek new financing sources. The Cambodian Government has been working with bilateral and multilateral donors, including the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and IMF, to address the country’s many pressing needs; More than 20% of the government budget will come from donor assistance in 2018. A 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.
Textile exports, which accounted for 68% of total exports in 2017, have driven much of Cambodia’s growth over the past several years. The textile sector relies on exports to the United States and the European Union. Cambodia’s dependence on its comparative advantage in textile production is crucial for the economy, mostly because Cambodia has continued to run a current account deficit above 9% of GDP since 2014.
Natural resources of Cambodia: oil and gas, timber, gemstones, iron ore, manganese, phosphates, hydropower potential, arable land.
Main export partners for Cambodia, Southeast Asia are the US 23.1%, UK 8.8%, Germany 8.2%, Japan 7.4%, Canada 6.7%, China 5.1%, Vietnam 5%, Thailand 4.9%, Netherlands 4.1% (2015) for clothing, timber, rubber, rice, fish, tobacco, footwear, while the main import partners for the country are: Thailand 28.7%, China 22.2%, Vietnam 16.4%, Hong Kong 6.1%, Singapore 5.7% (2015) for petroleum products, cigarettes, gold, construction materials, machinery, motor vehicles, pharmaceutical products.
When you visit this country in Southeast Asia, consider the natural hazards in Cambodia: Monsoonal rains (June to November), flooding, occasional droughts, while infectious diseases are a degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria (2016). Also, note that Cambodia faces the following environmental issues: Illegal logging activities throughout the country and strip mining for gems in the western region along the border with Thailand have resulted in habitat loss and declining biodiversity (in particular, destruction of mangrove swamps threatens natural fisheries), Soil erosion, In rural areas, most of the population does not have access to potable water, Declining fish stocks because of illegal fishing and overfishing, Coastal ecosystems choked by sediment washed loose from deforested areas inland.
You may also be interested in the countries next to Cambodia around its total: 2,530 km border, like Laos, Thailand, Vietnam.
