UXO facts and figures

• Lao PDR is, per capita, the most heavily bombed country in history.
• Most villages in Lao PDR that are classified as poor are also contaminated with UXO.
• All 17 provinces and the capital city suffer from UXO contamination.
• More than 2 million tons of ordnance were dropped on Lao PDR between 1964 and 1973, equivalent to 0.85 tonnes per person.
• 580,000 bombing missions were flown over Lao PDR between 1964 and 1973.
• Cluster submunitions or ‘bombies’ are the most common form of UXO found in the country.
• More than 270 million bombies were dropped on Lao PDR.
• An estimated 30 percent of bombies failed to detonate.
• Approximately 80 million unexploded bombies remained in Lao PDR after the war ended.
• Over 50,000 people have been killed or injured by UXO since 1964.
• From 2013 to 2023, 440 casualties were reported, resulting in 114 deaths (25.9 percent of casualties).
• In the same decade, children (under 18 years of age) comprised over 48 percent of casualties.

What are UXO?

    UXO are explosive weapons that have failed to detonate when they were fired, dropped, launched or projected, and still pose a risk of exploding. UXO contamination in Lao PDR consists of large air-dropped bombs, rockets, grenades, artillery munitions, mortars, landmines and cluster munitions.
    A cluster munition involves a container that opens in the air and scatters large numbers of explosive submunitions or ‘bomblets’ over a wide area. These submunitions are known throughout Lao PDR as ‘bombies’. A cluster munition is dropped from a plane or launched from the ground.
    Bombies dropped on Lao PDR had a high failure rate, with an estimated 30 percent unexploded and littered across vast tracts of land. When disturbed, even decades later, bombies and other UXO can explode, injuring and killing civilians as they carry out their daily activities.
    Lao PDR today is one of the most heavily UXO- and cluster munition-affected countries in the world, with up to 25 percent of villages contaminated by these remnants of war. In addition to more than 270 million bombies, over 4 million large bombs were dropped on the country or used in extensive ground battles, predominantly in the northern provinces. They left behind substantial amounts of other kinds of UXO.

THE IMPACT OF UXO IN LAO PDR

    Explosive ordnance contamination threatens lives, curtails freedom of movement, limits safe access to arable land, disenfranchises communities, and above all, instils fear and insecurity. The most vulnerable population groups are most affected.
    Explosive remnants of war have forced generations of people in Lao PDR to adapt their lives to avoid the threat of UXO. Although the conflict that left it heavily contaminated ended in 1973, the UXO legacy did not.
    The risk of UXO does not exist in a vacuum but in a context where differences and inequalities persist among women, men, boys and girls in terms of responsibilities, activities, access to and control over resources, and decision-making opportunities. Accordingly, even when everyone in a community is exposed to the same hazards caused by UXO, people with different vulnerabilities experience risks in different ways.
    For instance, according to the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA), over️ 70 percent of UXO casualties in Lao PDR by the end of 2023 were men and boys. Although more research is required, this gender imbalance may be at least partially attributable to gendered practices in UXO-contaminated communities.