Area
69,898 square miles (181,035 square kilometers).
Population
11,437,656 (official estimate 1998).
Population Density
63.2 per square kilometer.
Capital
Phnom Penh.
Population
999,804 (1998).
Geography
Cambodia shares borders with Laos, Thailand, in the east with Vietnam
and in the southwest with the Gulf of Thailand. The landscape is
mostly tropical rainforest and fertile cultivated land traversed
by numerous rivers. The northeast area is known as the highlands.
Phnom Penh is situated at the junction of the Mekong
and Tonle Sap rivers. The latter's source is from
a large inland lake, also called Tonle Sap, located in the centre
of the country. There are a number of offshore islands along the
southwest coast.
Government
Constitutional monarchy since 1993.
Head of State:
King Norodom Sihanouk since 1993.
Head of Government:
Prime Minister Hun Sen since 1998.
Language
The official language is Khmer and is spoken by 95% of the population.
Chinese and Vietnamese are also spoken. Until the arrival of the
Pol Pot regime French was widely spoken, but English is now a more
popular language to learn among the younger generation.
Religion
95% Buddhist (Theravada), the remainder Muslim and Christian. In
the late 1980s Buddhism was reinstated as the national religion
after a ban on religious activity in 1975.
Time
GMT plus 7 hours.
Electricity
220 volts AC, 50Hz. Power cuts and brown outs are frequent. Outside
Phnom Penh, electrical power is available usually in the evenings
from 6.30 - 9.30 pm. |
