+855 is the dialing code for Cambodia.
In Cambodia in Southeast Asia, the landscape is dominated by lowlands with rice farms around the Mekong River and a large lake. In the country, a high culture flourished a thousand years ago when the Khmer people built the Angkor Vat temple. Contemporary history is characterized by the Communist Red Khmer who, in three years, killed about 1.7 million people during a bizarre social experiment. Cambodia is now formally a democracy, but is characterized by an authoritarian government, corruption and poverty.
- Abbreviationfinder: Brief profiles of Cambodia, including geography, history, politics, economics as well as common acronyms about this country.
Geography and climate
Cambodia is almost half the size of Sweden and covers the southwestern part of the Indochinese peninsula. The country borders Thailand, Laos and Vietnam and has a coast towards Siam Bay. Most of Cambodia consists of a centrally located lowland around the large lake Tonlé Sap and the Mekong River which flows from north to south.
- BarbleJewelry: General information about Cambodia, covering geography, climate, travel tips and popular sights.
The Mekong River runs through the eastern part of the lowlands and merges with Tonlé Sap in the capital Phnom Penh. Mekong, which is one of Asia’s largest rivers, is on average two kilometers wide in Cambodia, although the variation is large depending on the season. Downstream from Phnom Penh begins the large Mekong Delta, which is mainly located in Vietnam, where the river has its outflow into the South China Sea.
Tonlé Sap (roughly the “big lake”) is Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake. It is important both for fishing and as a water reservoir during rainy periods, when the lake’s surface more than doubles. This is because water from the Mekong is squeezed into the lake as the river floods over its banks – the water flow then changes direction.
Country Facts
Geography
| Cultivated land | 32.1 % |
| Land area | 181035 km 2 |
Population and health
| Population development | 1.58 ‰ |
| Urban population (Urbanization) | 20.7 % |
| Death rate | 7.68 per 1000 residents |
| Life expectancy: Women | 66.7 years |
| Life expectancy: Men | 61.69 years |
| Birth rate | 23.83 births per 1000 residents |
| HDI index | 0.555 |
| Population | 15708756 |
| Infant mortality | 50.04 deaths / 1000 births |
Population Graph Source: Countryaah.com
Energy
| Electricity, production | 1770 million kWh |
| Energy consumption per resident | 369.6 kg. oil per resident |
| Natural gas, production | million cubic meters |
| Crude oil, production | million tons |
Infrastructure
| Internet users | 5.4 per 100 residents |
| Mobile subscriptions | 155 per 100 residents |
| Passenger cars | 21 per 1000 residents |
Business and economics
| Unemployment | 0.3% of the workforce |
| GDP | 3500 per resident |
| Primary occupations | 55.8 % |
| Secondary profession | 16.9 % |
| Tertiary professions | 27.3 % |
The relatively short coast in the southwest is cut off from the lowlands of the Cardamom Mountains and Elephant Mountains. Along the border with Thailand, the lower Dangrek mountains. The mountain areas are mostly wooded.
Cambodia is just north of the equator and the climate is tropical with a rainy season from May to November and a period of dry northeast monsoon in between.
Monsoon rains sometimes become so violent that severe floods occur. Mostly it rains in September. During the dry season, drought can create problems. The temperature is fairly even all year round, around 27 degrees in the capital Phnom Penh, but it is extra hot from March to June.
FACTS – GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Surface
181 035 km2 (2018)
Time
Swedish +6 hours
Adjacent country (s)
Vietnam, Laos, Thailand
Capital with number of residents
Phnom Penh 1,700,000
Other major cities
Sihanoukville 157,000, Battambang 150,000, Siem Reap 139,000 (2014 estimate)
Highest mountain
Phnom Aural (in the Cardamom Mountains, 1,813 m above sea level)
Important rivers
Mekong
Largest lake
Tonlé Sap
Average Precipitation / year
Phnom Penh 1 308 mm
Average / day
Phnom Penh 27 °C
2011
December
Troop retreat from the temple area
Thailand and Cambodia agree to withdraw their troops from the common border, under the supervision of the Indonesian observers from Asean (see February 2011).
September
Red Khmer conductors too ill to be tested
Ieng Thirith is released from custody because she is judged to be too ill to participate in a trial.
August
The World Bank responds to construction at sea
The World Bank announces that Cambodia will not receive any new loans until the authorities have reached a settlement with the thousands of residents at risk of being evicted from their homes at Lake Boeung Kak in Phnom Penh. A private construction company owned by a member of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) is filling the lake and developing the area commercially.
July
Stock exchange opens in Phnom Penh
The new stock exchange in Phnom Penh is inaugurated.
June
Red Khmer Leaders Refuse to Crime
All defendants deny the crime when the lawsuits against Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sarg and Ieng Thirith are initiated at the Red Khmer Tribunal (see Political system).
April
Tens of thousands are fleeing fights at temples
Despite the ceasefire agreement (see February 2011), new border battles with Thailand erupt at the temples of Ta Krabey, Ta Moan and Preah Vihear. About 20 people are killed and about 30,000 flee from their homes in Cambodia.
February
Deadly fire at the border with Thailand
About 10 people on both sides of the border are killed when the Cambodian and Thai military shoot at each other near the Preah Vihear temple area, which according to the UN belongs to Cambodia but which both countries claim (see also Foreign Policy and Defense). Following mediation by the regional cooperation organization Asean, Thailand and Cambodia later this month agree to send an unarmed Indonesian observer group of some 40 people to the area to monitor a ceasefire.