A/HRC/41/39/Add.2 B. Rural poverty 57. People in rural areas are much more likely to be affected by poverty. According to the latest statistics available, 71 per cent of the population live in rural areas, and the rural poverty rate is four times the rate in urban areas. 45 In addition, 88 per cent of those living in poverty were rural residents.46 Fourteen per cent of rural villages do not have road access, and even those with roads may be inaccessible during the rainy season, severely limiting access for residents to basic services and markets. 47 Rural residents have disproportionately poor access to health services and education and bear the brunt of policies such as land concessions and resettlement, in terms of their access to land, livelihoods and food security.48 58. Although the remote and dispersed nature of the rural population presents considerable challenges, the Government should not give up on working to provide rural communities with equal access to services and infrastructure in order to avoid leaving them with second-class status or pushing problematic consolidation or relocation programmes. C. Ethnic minority groups 59. Minority groups make up approximately 45 per cent of the population. 49 They face higher rates of poverty, 50 often live in rural areas with limited social services and infrastructure and may not speak Lao.51 The World Bank has found that ethnic minority groups lags behind the majority Lao-Tai group at all economic levels.52 60. Crucially, the gap between ethnic minority groups and the Lao-Tai majority cannot be fully explained by differences in characteristics such as larger household size or more limited access to education and infrastructure.53 The Government, however, does not even acknowledge the existence of ethnic minority groups and asked the Special Rapporteur to instead use the term “ethnic groups”, but terminological sidestepping will not solve the very real disparities faced by minority groups. The Government should recognize that its current policies are badly neglecting ethnic minority groups and undermining prospects for economic development. 61. The Government should adjust its self-defeating position on the use of minority languages. Insisting on Lao as the only language of instruction puts children belonging to 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 14 World Bank, “Lao PDR Economic Monitor”, January 2019, p. 33. World Bank, “Poverty Profile in Lao PDR,” p. 9. Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Statistics Bureau, “Lao Social Indicator Survey II”, p. 3. See, for example, Miles Kenney-Lazar (Land Issues Working Group, Global Association for People and the Environment and Village Focus International), “Linking food and land tenure security in the Lao PDR”, 2016, p. vii-viii. Available from https://data.opendevelopmentmekong.net/dataset/20166/resource/fbacdd35-9ca3-45de-b4bb-fa47d53852cd?type=library_record. Ian Baird, “Translocal assemblages and the circulation of the concept of ‘indigenous peoples’ in Laos”, Political Geography, vol. 46 (May 2015), pp. 54–64; World Population Prospects 2017, “2019 World Population by Country: Laos” World Population Review database. Available from http://worldpopulationreview.com; Minority Rights Group International, “Laos”, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, July 2018. Available from https://minorityrights.org/country/laos/. However, according to the Government, the majority Lao-Tai ethnic group makes up 62.5 per cent of the population, in which case minority groups would make up 37.5 per cent. World Bank “Lao Poverty Policy Brief: Why Are Ethnic Minorities Poor?”, 2017, p. 4. Available from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/501721505813643980/pdf/119793-WPPovertyReport-PUBLIC-ENGLISH-and-LAO-ENGLAOFinal.pdf. Elizabeth M. King and Dominique van de Walle, “Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Development, Chapter 7: Laos, Ethno-linguistic Diversity and Disadvantage”, paper prepared for the World Bank, March 2010, p. 2. Available from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTINDPEOPLE/Resources/4078011271860301656/Chapter_7_Laos.pdf. World Bank “Lao Poverty Policy Brief: Why Are Ethnic Minorities Poor?”, p. 4. World Bank, “Poverty Profile in Lao PDR,” p. 14; and “Lao PDR Poverty Policy Notes”, p. 23.