Page last modified 19 August 2023

41) Cambodia

Community

Area 181,035 square kilometres (land area 176,515 square kilometres)

Population,

2,000,000 (1900)

3,046,432 (1936)

4,163,000 (1950)

5,722,000 (1960) +37.4%

6,995,000 (1970) +22.5%

6,692,000 (1980) -4.3%

8,973,000 (1990) +34.1%

12,152,000 (2000) +35.4%

14,309,000 (2010) +17.8%

16,719,000 (2020) +16.8%

The population of Cambodia was estimated at 7,500,000 in 1976.� However under the Khmer Rouge administration the population was reduced by around 1 million through exiles, massacres, and starvation.

Ethnicity %

	Chinese	Khmer	Vietnamese
1970	7.5	82.1	6.2

Religion, %

	Animist	Buddhist	Christian	Muslim
1900	4.0	85.5	1.5	2.0
1970	2.0	87.3	0.5	2.4
1998		96.4		2.1
2010	0.6	96.9	0.4	2.0

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1952		45.0 (+21.0)	165.0	24.0	42.2	2.7	7.9
1962	7.0	45.0 (+23.6)		21.4	46.3	2.6	10.3
1972	6.2	40.0 (+13.7)	181.0	26.3	45.1	2.6	21.8
1980	5.9	45.5 (+1.6)	120.0	43.9*	41.1	2.7	9.9**
1990	5.9	44.0 (+31.3)	85.0	12.7	44.3	2.9	15.5
2000	3.8	27.0 (+17.6)	79.6	9.4	41.6	3.0	18.6
2010	2.7	22.0 (+15.5)	37.8	6.5	33.3	3.7	20.2
2015	2.6	23.7 (+17.6)	27.5	6.1	31.6	4.1	22.2
2017	2.5	22.9 (+16.9)	25.1	6.0
2018			24.0		31.2	4.6	23.4

*The Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s killed many Cambodians, through famine, overwork and execution. The peak death rate in Cambodia was 54.4 per thousand in 1977; without the Khmer Rouge death rate spike, the crude death rate would have been around 15.0.

**The Khmer Rouge forced many city-dwellers to move to the countryside to work the fields.

Life expectancy,

39.4 (1952); 38.0 (M), 41.0 (F)

41.2 (1960); 39.6 (M), 42.9 (F)

41.6 (1970); 39.3 (M), 43.9 (F)

27.7 (1980)*; 25.1 (M), 30.5 (F)

53.5 (1990); 51.2 (M), 55.9 (F)

58.4 (2000); 56.2 (M), 60.6 (F)

66.4 (2010); 64.3 (M), 68.6 (F)

69.9 (2020); 67.6 (M), 72.0 (F)

*See note above re. Khmer Rouge. Lowest average life expectancy was in 1977, at 19.3 (Male, 16.3; Female, 22.4). Trend life expectancy for 1977 would have been around 47.0 years.

Population of principal cities, MA = Metropolitan Area

PHNOM PENH, became the capital in 1866.

30,000 (1890)

45,000 (1900)

500,000 (1958)

600,000 (1968)

peak 2,500,000 (1970)

100,000 (1976)

400,000 (1980)

800,000 (1990)

1,157,000 (2000)

1,519,000 (2010)

2,200,000 (2015) MA

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values) The Cambodian economy grew rapidly in the early 2000s, due mainly to the expansion of the clothing industry.

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1960	637	0.12	111	3.69
1965	868	0.12	134	3.50
1970	718	0.07	102	1.94
1975
1980			83	0.66
1985
1990	820	0.01	104	0.43
1995	3,080	0.04	316	1.05
2000	3,220	0.03	257	0.71
2005	5,400	0.04	474	1.07
2010	11,360	0.08	786	1.62
2015	18,050	0.10	1,163	2.07
2016	20,160	0.11	1,270	2.21

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1960		82.0		4.0		14.0
1970		78.0
1980		74.0
1990	90.0	74.0	6.0	7.0	5.0	19.0
2000	50.0	70.0	14.0	15.0	36.0	35.0
2010	31.0	57.0	22.0	16.0	40.0	26.5
2013		48.7		19.9		31.5
2016	26.7		31.7		41.6

Communications

Language Official; Khmer, French also spoken

Khmer, 95.0% (2010)

Literacy

31.0% (1958)

36.0% (1962)

55.0% (1975)

48.0% (1983)*

67.0% (1995); 80.0% (M), 54.0% (F)

69.4% (2000); 80.5% (M), 58.2% (F)

76.3% (2010); 85.8% (M), 67.7% (F)

77.2% (2015); 84.5% (M), 70.5% (F)

* Literacy rates fell under the Khmer Rouge administration, late 1970s, as schools were closed

Physical communications � roads and railways

First railway built 1930-32, Phnom-Penh to Mongkolborey, and extended to the Thai border 1940. No trains at all ran during the Khmer Rouge period.

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles	Railways (km)
1940						320
1950						385
1956			9,300
1960		1,855				385
1962	4,009
1964			25,900
1970		2,574
1973					11,000
1980		2,670				640
1986	10,500		30,000	15,000
1992				20,085
1996		2,700		46,800		601
2000	12,323			312,303	49,036	601
2010		3,607				690
2014			2,400,000*			642
2016			3,200,000

*The vast majority of these, some 2,000,000, were motorbikes.

Electronic communications, �TV broadcasts began 1966. All radio and TV broadcasting ceased in 1975 under the Khmer Rouge regime. Radio broadcasts resumed in 1979, and TV broadcasts resumed in 1983.

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1951			3,100
1958	2,818
1960			19,000
1968	6,325
1975			110,000	35,000
1981	7,315
1982			800,000	50,000
1990			942,000	68,000
1993		4,810
1995		14,100	1,120,000	85,000	5,000
2000	30,880	130,500	1,480,000	100,000	15,000
2002						30,000
2004					38,000	41,000
2005		1,062,000		1,100,000		50,000
2007					52,000
2010	55,000	8,151,000
2011						491,000
2016	227,261	19,915,500				4,080,000

Tourism: Visitors to Cambodia,

16,505 (1973)

17,000 (1990)

220,000 (1995)

466,000 (2000)

1,421,615 (2005)

2,508,000 (2010)

4,775,000 (2015)