November 2010 Lao PDR CountRy bRief no. 2 Indigenous Peoples 64762 Catching up slowly: ethnic and gender inequalities in Lao PDR Elizabeth M. King and Dominique van de Walle In addition to the majority Lao-Tai (67 percent are less likely to attend school, partly because Elizabeth M. King of the population), the 5  million residents of they have less access to schools, especially ones (eking@worldbank.org) the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) with adequate instruction. Non-Lao-Tai are less is director of education at the World Bank. include three major non-Lao-Tai ethno-linguis- likely to live in villages with primary and lower Dominique van de Walle tic groups: the Mon-Khmer (21  percent), the secondary schools than Lao-Tai are. And non- (dvandewalle@worldbank Hmong-Lu Mien (8  percent), and the Chine- Lao-Tai women receive significantly less educa- .org) is lead economist Tibetan (3  percent). These categories further tion than non-Lao-Tai men or Lao-Tai of both in the Gender and include 49 distinct ethnicities and 200 ethnic sexes do (figure  1). For example, 34  percent Development Group at the World Bank. subgroups. Despite a clear narrowing of dispari- of rural non-Lao-Tai girls had never attended ties in literacy and schooling among all groups, school in 2002–03 compared with 6 percent of non-Lao-Tai ethno-linguistic minority groups Lao-Tai girls. are disadvantaged in many respects relative to Non-Lao-Tai access to health services is also the Lao-Tai majority. limited. Only 7 percent of the non-Lao-Tai popu- While one in four Lao-Tai lives in poverty, lation lives in villages that have a health post. In one in two non-Lao-Tai does. Non-Lao-Tai rural areas Lao-Tai adults are about 10 percent live predominantly in isolated rural highland more likely to seek treatment when ill than non- areas with limited access to transport infra- Lao-Tai. Women in both groups are less likely to structure, marketing opportunities, and social seek medical treatment than men. services. Nationally, one-fifth of non-Lao-Tai There are further disparities among non-Lao- live in villages with electricity compared with Tai ethnic groups, with some groups considerably about 60 percent of Lao-Tai. Some non-Lao-Tai worse off than others. For example, 56 percent minority groups are still semi-nomadic, moving of rural Mon-Khmer boys and 53 percent of girls to new areas when their lands are depleted, ages 6–10 were enrolled in primary school in but others have become sedentary. Like rural 2002–03, but only 36  of rural Chine-Tibetan Lao-Tai households, rural non-Lao-Tai house- boys and 30 percent of girls. Those who live in holds are primarily farmers, but they cultivate rural areas are typically more disadvantaged, mainly less productive lands in harsher upland although there are some deep pockets of urban areas and rely much more on forest products poverty as well (figure 2). Disparities are even for income. more marked between genders. Non-Lao-Tai Non-Lao-Tai adults have fewer years of formal adult women and girls lag behind non-Lao-Tai schooling than the Lao-Tai, and their children men in many ways, including schooling, health, This brief is based on a chapter in the forthcoming volume, Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Development, edited by Gillette Hall and Harry Anthony Patrinos. It is not a formal publication of the World Bank. It is circulated to encourage thought and discussion, and its use and citation should take this into account. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank. INdIgeNous peoples couNtry brIef Lao PDR Figure 1 Figure 2 literacy rates by age, gender, and percent of population who are ethno-linguistic group, 2002–03 poor, by geographical location Percent and by rural and urban residence 100 Rural male Lao-Tai 50 Urban Rural 80 40 Rural male non-Lao-Tai 60 30 Rural female Lao-Tai 40 20 Rural female non-Lao-Tai 20 10 0 18 30 40 50 60 0 All Lao PDR Lowlands Midlands Highlands Age 2 Note: Data are three-year moving averages. Because the Note: The figure uses a poverty headcount measure defined number of observations declines as age increases due to in richter, Kaspar, et al. 2005. “Lao PDr Poverty Trends mortality, data are plotted only through age 60. 1992/3– 2002/3, Draft report,� World Bank, Washington, D.C. Source: Lao expenditure and Consumption Survey 2002. the incoming non-Lao-Tai. Although the official and leisure hours. Policies to redress inequalities policy is that of voluntary resettlement, non-Lao- and raise living standards for all must take into Tai households have had trouble adapting their account this gender difference. livelihoods to the new environments and also Existing government policies focus on pro- face health problems, such as malaria, that were viding access to basic services, land tenure, and not common in the highlands, and thus need agriculture—and these policies have yielded more support services. improvements. However, some of these policies For these reasons, policies that are tailored to require that highland non-Lao-Tai households different groups’ specific needs and capabilities abandon their villages and environments and are likely to be the most successful in raising resettle in lowland “focal� areas where it is easier welfare levels broadly. Policies must address the to supply public services and they can engage multiple sources of disadvantage, such as ethno- in more productive paddy wet-rice cultivation. linguistic affiliation and gender, to ensure that These relocation policies are also promoted as future generations of non-Lao-Tai have better ways to safeguard forest environments by end- human capital. Such policies will reduce exist- ing swidden agriculture. Observers have criti- ing disparities and high poverty levels. Newer cized the underlying assumptions and results survey data from 2008/09 already indicate that of these policies. The relocation areas are typi- overall poverty has declined from 25 percent to cally already occupied by Lao-Tai who have made 18 percent, and for the non-Lao-Tai population, claims on much of the productive land and resent from about 50 percent to 42 percent.