A true mosaic of ethnic groups, Laos has, according to Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC), 49 ethnicities consisting of over 160 ethnic groups, which speak a total of 82 distinct living languages, divided into four language groups: the Tai-Kadai family (55%), the Austro-Asiatic family (30%), the Mia-Yao family (10%), and the Sino-Tibetan family (5%). Actually a complete classification of all ethnic groups has never been undertaken in Laos, and detailed ethnographic information about many groups is lacking, so the government divided the people into three groups according to the altitude at which they live, rather than according to ethnic origin: the lowland Lao (Lao Loum) account for 68%, upland Lao (Lao Theung) for 22%, and the highland Lao (Lao Sung, including the Hmong and the Yao) for 9%.
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