Cambodia Information

Links to Cambodia Information

Royal Embassy of Cambodia to Japan: This site presents a compendium of information about Cambodia and her embassy in Japan.
Royal Embassy of Cambodia to the United States of America: This web site has information on travel and business in Cambodia, as well as information on obtaining a VISA to travel to Cambodia.
Archive of Cambodia Information: This gopher site contains some archives of information about Cambodia.
Water for Cambodia: This project was conceived in July 1993 to provide the Cambodian population with clean and save water supply.

The soc.culture.cambodia newsgroup discusses Cambodia and its people.

About Cambodia

Geography

Cambodia is located in south-east Asia bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand and Vietnam. It occupies a total area of 181,040 sq km of which 176,520 sq km is on land. The country has a 2,572 km long land boundary and 443 km of coastline. A map of Cambodia is available.

Cambodia has a tropical climate - rainy, monsoon season from May to October and dry season from December to March. The terrain is mostly low, flat plains with mountains in the south-west and north. Natural resources include timber, gemstones, manganese, phosphates and hydropower potential.

People

Cambodia has a total population of 9,898,900 (July 1993 est.). Nationals of Cambodia are known as Cambodian(s). The primary ethnic group is Khmer (90%) and the predominant religion is Theravada Buddhism (95%). Khmer (official) and French are spoken.

Government

Cambodia is administered by the Royal Government of Cambodia after an internationally supervised election in 1993. Independence was gained on 9 November 1953, which is the national holiday.

The capital is Phnom Penh.

The Supreme National Council's flag has a blue background with white map of Cambodia in middle.

Economy

Cambodia remains a desperately poor country whose economic recovery is held hostage to continued political unrest and factional hostilities. The country's immediate economic challenge is an acute financial crisis that is undermining monetary stability and preventing disbursement of foreign development assistance. Cambodia is still recovering from an abrupt shift in 1990 to free-market economic mechanisms and a cutoff in aid from former Soviet bloc countries; these changes have severely impacted on public sector revenues and performance. The country's infrastructure of roads, bridges, and power plants has been severely degraded, now having only 40-50% of prewar capacity. The economy remains essentially rural, with 90% of the population living in the countryside and dependent mainly on subsistence agriculture. Statistical data on the economy continue to be sparse and unreliable.

Communications

Cambodia has 612 km of railroads, 13,351 km of highways and 3,700 km of inland waterways. The ports are in Kampong Saom and Phnom Penh. There are 9 usable airports.

Telecommunication services are barely adequate for government requirements and virtually nonexistent for the general public. International service is limited to Vietnam and other adjacent countries.