Rural/urban inequalities in Laos are markedly different to the rural/urban inequalitiesfound elsewhere in South East Asia. This essay will argue that the inequalities in ruraland urban Laos are due to rapid urbanisation in the major centres: Vientiane andLuang Prabang. While in comparison to rural areas, the major centres have better standards of education and healthcare, the consequences of the rapid urbanisation of these areas in Laos has lead to an increase in unemployment, cost of living,overcrowding, and subsequently an increase in social problems such as crime,alcoholism, prostitution, gambling and glue sniffing. Resulting from this, is higher rates of depression and psychological problems experienced by people in these areas.The rapid urbanisation and subsequent social problems experienced by Laos is due tointertwined economic, political and social causes. In order to reduce the negativeimpacts of these inequalities, more needs to be done to sponsor employment,education and healthcare in rural areas, to either encourage people to remain in ruralareas, or to encourage migration patterns from urban to rural areas. This essay willapply the work of urbanisation theorists with the empirical evidence provided bySouphaphone Mixab, Frank LeBar, Shui Meng and other accounts of urban and rurallife in Laos in order to highlight the economic, political and social urban and ruralinequalities in Laos and suggest strategies that may be implemented in order to reducetheir negative impacts.