57 Facts About Cambodia

Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is the 72nd most populous country in the world. 

Cambodia is a sovereign state located in the southern portion of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. 

Cambodia has an area of 181,035 sq km. 

Cambodia's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh. 

Khmer is the official language of Cambodia. 

The Riel (KHR) is the currency of Cambodia. 

People living in Cambodia are called Cambodian or Khmer. 

Cambodia has three bordering countries that include Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy ruled by Hun Sen, who has been the head of the Cambodian government for the past 25 years, making him the longest serving non-royal leader in South East Asia.

Theravada (pronounced "terra-VAH-dah") is a type of Buddhism. Cambodia's official religion is Buddhism, which is practised by approximately 95 percent of the population. Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, and Laos also practise the religion.

Theravada Buddhism adheres to the teachings of the Tipitaka or Pali Canon, which is a collection of the earliest recorded texts of Buddha's teachings. Today, there are over 100 million Theravada Buddhists.

Carbon dating evidence suggests that Cambodia was inhabited as early as 4000 B.C.

The cutting-edge airborne laser scanning technology recently revealed multiple cities between 900 and 1,400 years old beneath the tropical forest floor, some of which rival the size of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh.

According to archaeologists, there is also a massive city beneath Mount Kulen.

During the war, millions of land mines were planted in Cambodia. In Cambodia, a land mine removal trust is currently in operation, assisting in the removal of mines and making the country safer.

Cambodia has the world's largest population of amputees due to landmines. Since 1979, over 64,000 landmine casualties have been recorded. Almost half of the landmines remain unexploded.

During the Khmer Rouge's control of the country, a Pepsi bottling plant in Battambang, which had been in operation since the 1960s, was forcedly closed down in 1975.

Cambodia was a protectorate (a state controlled and protected by another) of France until 1953.

Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge (KR) regime committed genocide (the systematic killing of people on the basis of ethnicity, religion, political opinion, social status, etc.) in Cambodia, killing at least one and a half to three million people. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia, the genocide came to an end.

The bodies of those killed during the genocide were buried in the "Killing Fields." The term "Killing Fields" was coined by Cambodian journalist Dith Pran after fleeing the regime that was responsible for the deaths of so many Cambodians.

Cambodia also has the world's first of its kind, "the Killing Cave" of Phnom Sampeau. The bones of doctors, teachers, men, women, and children killed by the Khmer Rouge can be found in the cave.

A small dinosaur carving can be found on the walls of a temple at Ta Prohm. The carving could indicate that dinosaurs lived much longer than previously thought. There is, however, no concrete evidence to support this assumption.

In Cambodia, there is a "blind clinic" where you can get massages from blind people. These people are trained in the art of massage in order to make a living.

From 1963 to 1973, the United States bombed Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

Cambodia has one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, with a ten-year average growth rate of more than 6%.

In the East, the name "Kampuchea" is more commonly used for "Cambodia."

Aside from Afghanistan's national flag, Cambodia's national flag is the only other national flag in the world with an actual building on it.

Despite being one of Asia's poorest countries, Cambodia received a record 5 million visitors in 2016, generating approximately $3 billion in revenue. Tourism clearly plays an important role in the country's economic growth.

Cambodia's garment and footwear industries are also among the top contributors to the country's economy. These two sectors employ over 600,000 Cambodians, the vast majority of whom are women.

Rice is thought to be the first crop grown on Cambodian soil before the first century AD.

Cambodia's current king, His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni, is a bachelor with no children. As a result, there is no direct successor to the king in the event that one is required to be crowned as Cambodia's next king.

In the dry season, the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) in Cambodia measures approximately 2,590 square kilometres and expands to approximately 24,605 kilometres during the rainy season. The region is experiencing an unusual annual inundation (flooding). It is also densely populated and dedicated to the cultivation of wet rice. The region is also known as "Cambodia's heartland."

Tonle Sap is Southeast Asia's largest salt water lake.

Cambodia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, trailing only Nigeria and Vietnam. Cambodia's annual forest loss rate increased by 14.4 percent between 2001 and 2014. The main cause of this heavy deforestation is illegal forest cutting by smugglers for monetary gains from the valuable timber.

Hun Sen, Cambodia's current Prime Minister, was the world's youngest head of state at the age of 32 years and 162 days.

Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia for more than 25 years and plans to remain Prime Minister until he is 74.

Hun stated in 2011 that if anyone attempted to hold a protest against his rule, "I will beat all those dogs and put them in a cage."

More than two and a half million Cambodians live on less than $1.20 per day, which is a harsh reality.

The largest foreign investors in Cambodia are China and the United Kingdom.

Human life was ignored during the Khmer Rouge's rule, and repression and massacres were carried out on a massive scale. Between 1975 and 1979, nearly two million people were killed.

Vietnam backed the Khmer Rouge only to pull out of Cambodia by the end of 1972.

As a result of the bombing, which the Khmer Republic government carried out with US assistance, up to 300,000 people were killed in Cambodia. Many of those affected by the bombings joined the Khmer Rouge.

The most important prison in Cambodia, known as S-21, housed nearly 14,000 prisoners, only 12 of whom survived. The Khmer Rouge was in charge of these many prisoners' detention, interrogation, and execution.

Cambodians were forced to grow at least three tonnes of rice per hectare throughout the country, in what is thought to be the most brutal rule in world history.

Angkor Wat, at 162.6 hectares, is the world's largest religious monument.

The temple was built in the early 12th century by Khmer King Suryavarman II.

Originally, the temple was a Hindu temple. However, by the end of the 12th century, it had been gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple.

In Khmer, Angkor Wat means "Temple City" or "City of Temples".

A Portuguese monk - António da Madalena - one of the first Western visitors to the temple, said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen.

Angkor Wat attracts nearly half of all international tourists who visit Cambodia. Angkor Wat ticket sales brought in $20 million during the first three months of 2016.

The temple, unlike the other temples in the area, faces west, a direction associated with death. The custom at the time was to construct temples that faced east.

The temple was also depicted in the film "Tomb Raider." For seven days of filming, the production company was charged $10,000 per day.

Cambodia has 1.3 million mopeds for a population of over 1.5 million people.

KFC, the American fast food corporation, is losing money in Cambodia, their only unprofitable country. In Cambodia, there are only six of these fast food restaurants.

Cambodians do not observe birthdays. Many elderly people have no idea how old they are.

Cambodia's population is young. The majority of its population is under the age of 20.

Funerals in Cambodia are quite expensive, with an average cost of $9,000. The procedure lasts more than 49 days on average, with the body preserved for the first seven.