Military of Laos
| Military branches: | Lao People's Army (LPA; includes Riverine Force), Air Force |
| Military service age and obligation: | 15 years of age for compulsory military service; minimum 18-month conscript service obligation (2006) |
| Manpower available for military service: | males age 15-49: 1,500,625 females age 15-49: 1,521,116 (2005 est.) |
| Manpower fit for military service: | males age 15-49: 954,816 females age 15-49: 1,006,082 (2005 est.) |
| Manpower reaching military service age annually: | males age 18-49: 73,167 females age 15-49: 71,432 (2005 est.) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP: | 0.5% (2006) |
| Military - note: | Laos is one of the world's least developed countries; the Lao People's Armed Forces are small, poorly funded, and ineffectively resourced; there is little political will to allocate sparse funding to the military, and the armed forces' gradual degradation is likely to continue; the massive drug production and trafficking industry centered in the Golden Triangle makes Laos an important narcotics transit country, and armed Wa and Chinese smugglers are active on the Lao-Burma border (2005) |