Welcome to the Kingdom of Laos	Pha That Luang in Vientiane, the national symbol of Laos.

The Kingdom of Laos was a sovereign state from 1953 until December 1975, when Communists overthrew the government and created the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Given self-rule in 1949 as part of a federation with the rest of French Indochina, the 1953 Franco-Lao Treaty finally established a sovereign, independent Laos, but did not stipulate who would rule the country. In the years that followed, three groups contended for power: the neutralists under Prince Souvanna Phouma, the right-wing party under Prince Boun Oum of Champassak, and the left-wing, Vietnamese-backed Lao Patriotic Front (now called the Pathet Lao) under Prince Souphanouvong and future Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihane.

“LAOS” redirects here. For the Greek political party, see Popular Orthodox Rally. Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked communist state in southeast Asia, bordered by Myanmar (Burma) and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Laos traces its history to the Kingdom of Lan Xang or Land of a Million Elephants, which existed from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. After a period as a French colony, it gained independence in 1949. A long civil war ended when the communist Pathet Lao came to power in 1975.

Private enterprise has increased since the mid-1980s. Laos has been ranked among the lowest countries in terms of economic and political freedom. Despite this, the economy of Laos grew at 7.2% in 2006, 35th fastest in the world. Eighty percent of the employed practice subsistence agriculture. The country's ethnic make-up is extremely diverse, with only around 70% belonging to the largest ethnic group, the Lao.

List of cities in Laos