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Intelrift Geoeconomic Index· Edition 1 · Q4 2026

Laos

39.0

Moderate · 30+Rank 57 of 192+3.9 against the previous edition · #72 → #57Asia · South-Eastern Asia · 5 of 5 sub-indices available
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Rank in its region23 / 47Asia
Rank in its income group17 / 47Lower-middle income
Comparable countriesVietnamIGE 37.8 · distance 4.1Comparable countriesDominican RepublicIGE 36.0 · distance 4.8

Comparable countries

Nearest in the five-dimensional sub-index space (euclidean distance over shared dimensions).

What would move the score

  • Chokepoints±2.5 points
  • Sanctions±2.5 points
  • Commodity concentration±2.0 points
  • Institutional fragility±1.5 points
  • Sovereign stress±1.5 points

Change in the IGE if one sub-index moved by 10 points, with this country's effective weights.

Sub-indices against the regional and global mean

CountryRegional meanGlobal mean

Source: Intelrift, IGE. Simple means of covered countries.Data through 19 October 2026

History by edition

Hollow points are retrospectives: past years computed with the current method, without newsroom events and with the current snapshot of the sanctions lists.

Source: Intelrift, IGEData through 19 October 2026

Key factors

What drives the score

  • Landlocked (transit dependence): yes (2026), risk percentile 100.source
  • Exposure to sanctioned partners: 51.1 (2023), risk percentile 100.source
  • External debt to GNI: 115.4 % (2024), risk percentile 100.source
  • Logistics performance (LPI): 2.4 (2022), risk percentile 84.source

Each factor comes from a sourced, dated input; the percentile says where the country sits among those covered.

How it is calculated

Weights, coverage and provenance

Chokepoints43Effective 25 %
Sanctions31Effective 25 %
Commodity concentration31Effective 20 %
Institutional fragility50Effective 15 %
Sovereign stress46Effective 15 %

5 of 5 sub-indices available · ige-v1

Provenance hash

2b54968d52e58ab4630a6f0a56eab455ad61ca0f6d44d155c306c9013f2324b2

SHA-256 of the canonical JSON of the inputs, their sources and periods, the winsorisation bounds and the weights. Same inputs, same hash.

Read the methodology

Sub-index inputs

Chokepoints · 42.6

How much of the country's GDP depends on six maritime passages (Hormuz, Suez, Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb, Panama, Bosphorus) staying open, plus its imported-energy dependence, logistics performance and whether it is landlocked.

Exposure to the main chokepoint (2025)5.7 % of GDP · percentile 5
Total chokepoint exposure (2025)14 % of GDP · percentile 7
Net energy import dependence (2024)0 % · percentile 0
Fuel share of imports (2023)18.8 % · percentile 59
Landlocked (transit dependence) (2026)yes · percentile 100
Logistics performance (LPI) (2022)2.4 · percentile 84

Sanctions · 31.4

Whether the jurisdiction is under a sanctions regime (and how intense), how many people and entities linked to the country appear on the OFAC, EU, UN and UK lists, how many on US export-control lists, and how much it trades with sanctioned partners.

Jurisdiction-level sanctions regimeno regime · percentile 0
Designations linked to the country (2026)12 · percentile 40
Designations under country programmes (2026)0 · percentile 0
Entities under US export controls (2026)1 · percentile 17
Exposure to sanctioned partners (2023)51.1 · percentile 100

Commodity concentration · 31.2

Concentration of exports and imports by product group (Herfindahl index), fuel and food share of imports, natural resource rents over GDP and terms-of-trade volatility.

Export concentration (HHI) (2023)0.23 · percentile 0
Import concentration (HHI) (2023)0.43 · percentile 30
Fuel and food share of imports (2023)31.5 % · percentile 43
Natural resource rents (2021)5.4 % of GDP · percentile 18
Terms-of-trade volatility (2024)21.5 % · percentile 65

Institutional fragility · 49.6

Rule of law, political stability, government effectiveness and control of corruption (WGI), the INFORM index, battle deaths, homicides and new conflict displacements per capita, and the quarter's political and security events recorded by Intelrift.

Rule of law (WGI) (2025)48.1 · percentile 69
Political stability and absence of violence (WGI) (2025)75.3 · percentile 24
Government effectiveness (WGI) (2025)40.2 · percentile 71
Control of corruption (WGI) (2025)28 · percentile 84
INFORM risk index (2026)3.7 · percentile 33
Battle-related deaths per 100,000 peopleinsufficient data
Intentional homicides per 100,000 peopleinsufficient data
New conflict displacements per 1,000 people (2025)0.56 · percentile 12
Political and security events (90 days) (2026)60.4 · percentile 54
Terror and narco incidents (90 days) (2026)insufficient data

Sovereign stress · 45.7

Reserves in months of imports, current account balance, inflation, depreciation against the dollar, external debt and its service, short-term debt over reserves, broad money over reserves, interest over revenue and Intelrift's daily country risk.

Reserves in months of imports (2025)3.4 months · percentile 82
Current account balance (2025)11.1 % of GDP · percentile 12
Annual inflation (2025)7.7 % · percentile 29
Annual depreciation against the dollar (2025)+1.4 % · percentile 43
External debt to GNI (2024)115.4 % · percentile 100
Debt service to exports (2024)19 % · percentile 40
Short-term debt to reserves (2024)49.6 % · percentile 39
Broad money to reserves (2010)2.1× · percentile 9
Interest payments to revenue (2022)11.9 % · percentile 43
Intelrift daily country risk (2026)33 · percentile 60