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Popultaion
The population of the Indochinese Peninsula is at present around 217 million people. The population of Myanmar (according to 2006 data) is about 47.4 million people, of Vietnam – about 84.4 million, of Thailand – 64.64 million, of Laos – about 6.4 million, of Cambodia – 14.1 million people (in the years of Pol Pot’s dictatorship 3 million people were killed). All countries of the Peninsula, except Cambodia, are multinational (about 85% of the population of Cambodia is formed by Khmer). Modern population of Indochina is a conglomeration of peoples that differ in their languages, culture, origin and the length of occupying their territories. Along with peoples who long ago formed their independent states, forests and mountains are populated with peoples who still preserve ancient, primitive way of life.
The appearance of the majority of Indochinese population is typical of the South-Asian anthropological type. Such people are characterized with a combination of Mongoloid features (yellowish complexion, flat faces, prominent cheek-bones, low nose-bridge) with some Australoid features (broad nose, thick lips, prominent jaws). The south-Mongoloid race forms several local variations on the Indochinese Peninsula. Since ancient times the structure of the population has been of mosaic character when small tribes, some of them less than 1 thousand people in number, co-existed with large, multi-million peoples. The proportion of the “title nationality” varies in different countries. Usually large ethnic groups live in valleys or in hilly regions, while smaller ethnicities prevail in the mountains.
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