Overview

Cambodia is a very nice country with poor but kind people. The problem of the country is its high corruption rate. Due to several wars and dictatorships in the past as well as the common corruption the country is still underdeveloped.



Most Cambodians consider themselves to be Khmers. In 1863, the king of Cambodia placed the country under French protection; it became part of French Indochina in 1887. Following Japanese occupation in World War II, Cambodia became independent within the French Union in 1949 and fully independent in 1953. Between 1975 and 1979, the brutal Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot killed an estimated 3 million Cambodians. 

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Today, Cambodia’s economic freedom score is 58.5, making its economy the 95th freest in the 2013 Index. Its overall score is 0.9 point better than last year due to improvements in trade freedom and labor freedom. Cambodia is ranked 16th out of 41 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is slightly higher than the regional average.

Reductions in Cambodia’s trade-weighted average tariff rate and modernization of its commercial codes have contributed to improvements in the overall entrepreneurial environment and advances in economic freedom. Openness to global trade and a competitive corporate tax rate have aided the ongoing transition to a more market-based system, improving productivity and adding jobs. The maintenance of relatively sound public finance management has contributed to economic stability.

Nonetheless, substantial challenges remain, particularly in implementing deeper institutional and systemic reforms that are critical to strengthening the foundations of economic freedom. Property rights and freedom from corruption remain weak, and lingering government interference and controls hurt dynamic flows of investment and overall economic efficiency.



Cambodia's civil liberties rating improved from 6 to 5 in 2002 due to modest trends toward improved labor and press rights, as well as an increasingly active civil society.