Laos was bombed for nine years, and the bombs that matter today are small. UXO Lao, the national clearance operator, says more than 270 million submunitions, known in Laos as "bombies", were dropped between 1964 and 1973, and that up to 30% of all ordnance did not explode. The Landmine Monitor describes Laos as having the world's highest level of contamination by cluster munition remnants, and those small bombs, not the large ones, are what most clearance work deals with.
Is unexploded ordnance a risk for travellers in Laos?
It is a small risk for the way most tourists travel, and a real one for anyone who treks, camps or rides off established routes in rural provinces. Both the UK government and the US State Department give the same two instructions: keep to main or well-used roads, tracks and paths, and do not pick up metal objects. The UK adds that the risk rises after flash floods and landslides in the monsoon season, when soil movement can bring hidden ordnance to the surface.
A common misreading comes from official homepages themselves. The NRA, the government body that regulates the sector, still says UXO accidents injure about 300 people a year, and UXO Lao's homepage repeats that figure. That describes an earlier period. The Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor puts the figure for 2024 at 20. A lower casualty count does not mean the land is clean: as the next section shows, most of the ordnance is still there.
The people hurt are overwhelmingly residents going about their work. UXO Lao's victim records show that more than half of the victims in its operating areas were children and more than 81% were male. The Monitor notes that children are at particular risk because they pick up and play with bombies.
Why is so much still in the ground?
The arithmetic explains it. UXO Lao estimates that about 80 million items failed to explode, and that UXO Lao itself destroyed just over 1.8 million between 1996 and 2024. That is 2.25% of the estimated total in almost three decades of work by that one operator.
Clearance is not about finding every bomb in the country. Laos now surveys land first and clears confirmed hazardous areas where people need to farm or build. According to the Monitor's impact profile, about 1,500 km2 of confirmed hazardous area remained at the end of 2024, and 75.03 km2 was cleared that year, 70 km2 of it farmland.
At the 2024 rate, clearing the area already confirmed would take about 20 years (1,500 / 75.03 = 20.0). The real figure is likely to be longer, since the Monitor says the confirmed area is expected to grow as survey continues. Laos's deadline under the Convention on Cluster Munitions is now 1 August 2030, and the country expects to seek further extensions.
Where is contamination heaviest?
The Monitor lists nine heavily contaminated provinces: Attapeu, Champasak, Houaphanh, Khammouane, Luang Prabang, Salavan, Savannakhet, Sekong and Xieng Khouang, with Xieng Khouang the most contaminated. The US State Department names the same provinces plus Vientiane province, and advises extra caution along Route 7.
Counts of affected provinces vary with the method. The NRA says all 17 provinces and about 25% of villages have some UXO contamination, while the Monitor counts 15 of 18 provincial-level areas contaminated with cluster munition remnants specifically. The capital, Vientiane, is on the Monitor's list, but only to a lesser extent.
Is the Plain of Jars safe to visit?
The jar sites are in Xieng Khouang, the most contaminated province, and they show what clearance changes. When UNESCO inscribed the Plain of Jars in 2019, it noted that Laos had "recently achieved the clearance of UXO from the components", the 15 sites in the listing.
UNESCO's statement covers the listed sites, not the hills and fields between them. Stay inside the visitor areas and on paths at each site, and treat the drive between sites as a road trip, not a walk. MAG, which has worked in Laos since 1994 and clears land in Xieng Khouang and Khammouane, reported that it released 10,471,115 m2 of land and destroyed 6,301 unexploded items in 2025.
Visiting the COPE Visitor Centre in Vientiane
COPE, which provides prosthetics and rehabilitation for people with mobility disabilities, is the place in Vientiane to see what these numbers mean for survivors. COPE's visit page says the visitor centre opens daily from 8:30 am to 4 pm (one line on the same page gives 5 pm, so allow for the earlier time), with free entry and donations welcome. It sits on the grounds of the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation on Khouvieng Road, opposite the Green Park Hotel.
The exhibition covers the history of UXO in Laos, its effect on daily life, and the rehabilitation work of COPE and the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation, with personal accounts from people who use their services. There is also a small cinema showing documentaries, the Karma Cafe and a shop, whose proceeds support COPE.
If your route north runs by train, our guide to Laos-China Railway tickets from Vientiane covers booking and the station. Before any hike in Xieng Khouang, Houaphanh or Khammouane, ask the operator whether the route has been surveyed or cleared, and choose another route if they cannot say.