ABSTRACT
Myanmar it is difficult to understand what the 54 per cent not in agriculture find to do. Cambodia and Laos were still heavily dependent on agriculture in the early 1990s.
(5)–(8) The UN Human Development Index brings out strong contrasts between the countries of Southeast Asia. Malaysia and Singapore have life expectancy levels comparable to those in the poorer countries of Western Europe, while Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and Viet Nam have levels of literacy well above those prevailing in the developing world. Myanmar, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos all have levels of real GDP per inhabitant comparable with levels widely found in Africa. The extent to which the conflicts in Viet Nam and Cambodia, and the indirect involvement also of Laos, have held back development in these
