LITERACY rates in Cambodia are around 88 per cent. Female labour force participation rates are around 74pc — one of the highest in the region. Contrast this with Pakistan. Our literacy rate is less than 70pc and female labour force participation rates are around 25pc.
Recently, I had an opportunity to visit Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for a four-day conference. Though there was limited opportunity to move around outside due to conference commitments, the city and its people still made quite an impression on me.
As soon as you land in Phnom Penh you realise you are in a country where the public space is shared by men and women almost equally. Women run and own businesses; they manage shops; they do almost all the jobs that are available; they drive cycles, motorcycles, scooters, cars and vans; and they do not have to worry about men staring at them. If you live in Pakistan and are quite used to what happens here, the change seems stark when you enter another country. Of course, for most of the world, it is just normal.
But it is not just that. The quality of service that is provided to you as a customer is quite impressive as well. Tourism is important for the economy, and is one of its larger income generators. The prevailing service orientation helps greatly. Shopkeepers are keen to provide what you are looking for. Hotel staff is courteous and responsive. English is an issue even in Phnom Penh, and most people just about make do, but whether in the tuk tuk (local rickshaw), small shops or in the big hotel where we were staying, I never felt that language was that big an issue. The courteous keenness with which you are listened to and addressed makes up for any language deficiencies quite easily.
Cambodia has focused a lot of resources on rebuilding schools.
Walking in the streets of Phnom Penh gives you an idea of an economy on the move. There is a thriving and expanding tourism industry, and local commerce is doing quite well too. Cambodia still relies a lot on agriculture and textiles (garments) but the economy is moving into industry well. Cambodia is attracting significant foreign direct investment. Investments in infrastructure have also gone up significantly. Recently, there has been talk of offshore oil and gas reserves too.
The picture you get, even with a brief exposure, is of an economy, which though still in the early stages of development, is keen to move forward and is investing in the human resource needed for development. It is starting to establish basic systems and infrastructure for more rapid development and is aiming high. It might well be that within a few years to a decade, people who are currently talking of Cambodia’s neighbours such as Vietnam and Thailand will be talking of Cambodia itself. Considering the energy that I witnessed, I would not be surprised at all if that happens. Cambodia has already had many years of 6pc to 8pc GDP growth over the last couple of decades, despite international financial crises, the Covid-19 pandemic, etc.
Do keep in mind where Cambodia is coming from. In 1975-79, when Cambodia had a population of about seven million people, it was in the throes of a genocide that, according to some estimates, killed about 2m Cambodians: almost a quarter to one-third of the total population of the country. And the killings focused on the educated and more well-off people in society. Some estimates say that almost 80pc of teachers were killed in the genocide. Phnom Penh was evacuated completely and city dwellers were moved to rural areas. All schools and universities were closed and destroyed. The intellectuals of the country were killed. For some time, being educated was held against you and could get you killed. Possessing paper and pens or a book was considered to be problematic.
Political instability continued for decades afterwards. It is only over the last 25 to 30 years that Cambodia has seen some political settlement and it is only recently that Cambodians have been able to shift their attention to rebuilding their country and economy.
Cambodia has focused a lot of resources on rebuilding schools. Literacy rates as well as primary level enrolment rates have improved a lot. Both are higher than what we have in Pakistan. But the rate of high school enrolment and completion and tertiary education enrolment is not very high in Cambodia, though they are comparable to Pakistan. There is a gender gap in enrolments and completion as well, but the gap is narrowing faster than it has been in Pakistan.
There is still a lot of work to do. Not all schools, especially those in the rural areas, have adequate infrastructure. There are many schools that still have high school graduates as teachers. The quality of instruction, especially at the high school level, is quite weak and uneven across schools. Tertiary education needs to be developed a lot more. But there are significant investments being made in education and human resource development.
There are still plenty of concerns about institutional stability, policy continuity, corruption and bureaucratic interference in Cambodia. But the country does give the look of an economy and society that is on the move. The people seem hopeful and want to work to do something about the country. The mood, in this sense, is quite different from that of young people in Pakistan. There is no despondency. There is no desire to leave the country in overwhelming numbers. The Cambodians see a future in the local economy. A lot of policy changes over the last 20 years or so have contributed to the creation of this mood and outlook. We, in Pakistan, seem to be moving in the opposite direction.
The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives and an associate professor of economics at Lums.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2025
