WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by project type | Page 136

Standard Project Report 2016
Country Context and WFP Objectives
Country Context
Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is moving towards middle-income country status. The country is
home to 49 officially recognised ethnic groups with a total population of 6.5 million people.
While Lao PDR has managed to reduce the proportion of hungry poor people from 33 to 23 percent over the past
decade (World Bank, 2014), the 2015 Global Hunger Index still rates hunger levels in the country as “serious”. It is
estimated that 70 percent of the population's household food and nutrition security relies on subsistence farming,
and foraging is becoming less available because of over-harvesting and deforestation. Diet diversity continues to be
low, and climate change is affecting the quantity and quality of agricultural production. Only 17 percent of the land is
cultivable, which is mainly used for rice production. Lao PDR ranks 141 out of 188 in the 2015 Human Development
Index (Human Development Report) and the Gross National Income per capita is USD 1,730 (World Bank, 2015).
The 2016 Comprehensive Food Security Assessment indicates that 14 percent of the rural population is food
insecure, with rates as high as 25 percent in highland areas. Pockets of poverty and food insecurity also exist in the
urban areas, with around 30 percent of the population living below the poverty line of USD 1.25 (World Bank, 2014).
The rate of anaemia among women of reproductive age is 31 percent and 53 percent of children under 2 are
anaemic. Households' food access is constrained by poverty, declining land availability, unstable farm-gate prices,
low agricultural productivity, and changing climate patterns.
Although results from the 2015 Food and Nutrition Security Survey and the Lao Child Anthropometry Survey show a
substantial decrease in stunting from 44 to 35.6 percent from 2012 to 2016, malnutrition remains a major challenge.
Only 12.9 percent of children aged 6-23 months consume a minimum acceptable diet, and 40 percent of children
Lao People's Democratic Republic (LA)
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Country Programme - 200242