Laos

Laos: steady but modest growth, 1984–2024

A landlocked, formerly centrally planned economy that began opening up in the late 1980s, Laos grew rapidly on hydropower, mining, and Chinese-financed infrastructure, but heavy public debt, including for the China-Laos railway, set off a currency and inflation crisis from 2022. Between 1984 and 2024, Laos's GDP per capita grew from $483 to $2,124 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 3.8% — steady but modest growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 6.0% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 2.8 points, reflecting relatively stable macroeconomic conditions. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 47.5% to 16.8% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 44.4% to 43.5% of GDP, a comparatively unusual pattern for this period. On human development, life expectancy rose from 48.6 to 69.2 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 0.4% to 14.9%, while the urban population share grew from 12.4% to 39.6%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 0.14 to 3.35 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) widened from 34.3 to 34.7; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 42.1% to 7.1%.