the Lao PDR is among the group of countries designated by the World Bank as "low-income economies." It has a population of 4.4 million with an average life expectancy of 51 years (World Bank, 1994b, p. 162, Table 1). The adult illiteracy rate of 36% in the Lao PDR is much lower than the rates in two other low-income Asian countries, Bhutan (62%) and Nepal (74%), but considerable higher than the 12% illiteracy rate in Sri Lanka (World Bank, 1994a, p. 54, Table 2.5).