The project background is an important part of every proposal. It can be very similar to the project rationale or project justification. It shows your donor that you did your homework and that your project is planned well. But where can you get the information and data for your project background? And how does one actually look like?

Here you have an example project background for Cambodia. If you are planning to or working in Cambodia then you are welcome to use this blueprint. Be sure to add more specific information about your own project and other relevant data according to the region and place.

Project Background of Cambodia

The Kingdom of Cambodia is a Southeast Asian Country. The country shares borders with Laos and Thailand to the North and Vietnam to the East. The Gulf of Thailand is off the western coast. The government is a constitutional monarchy, King Norodom Sihamoni is the current head of state. It is one of the least corrupt nations ranking 161 out of 175 countries.

The country has a population of about 16,449,519  and the population density is 91 persons per square km. The rural population is 76.6 %. Moreover, according to the 2018 CIA report, the rate of urbanization is 3.25 %.

Health and education both are the top concerns for the country. The literacy rate is 73.9 %. The country has made an improvement in the area of maternal mortality, which has declined from 472 in 2005 to 161 in 2017. At the same time, the fertility rate was reduced from 3.1 % (2005) to 2.5%(2017). However, the portion of stunted children under five years of age is 32.4% and the infant mortality rate is 26.3 deaths/1,000 live births.

The country has the fastest growing economy in Asia. As a result, in 2016 it was promoted to a Lower Middle-Income country from a Least Developed Country.  The country’s economy is mainly based on agriculture and tourism. The GDP from agriculture is 9401.20 KHR billion (2017). In addition, textiles production and extraction of natural resources like timber, rubber, limestone, and phosphate are also other sources of income generation.

While Cambodia is one of Asia’s fastest growing nation, the ease of doing business score lies at 54.80.

If you are looking for more information, there are other sources that you could use like the OECD, World Bank or the UN. Unless mentioned, the data was retrieved from the HDR-UNDP.

Country: Cambodia

Demographics

• Population: 16,449,519   (CIA World Factbook )
• Density: 91 people /sq. km (World Bank )
• Area (Rural/ Urban) –  76.6%/ 23.4% (CIA World Factbook )

Education

• Literacy rate (% ages 15 and older) – 73.9 %

Health

• Life expectancy at birth – 67.1  years (Male), 71.3 years (Female)
• Infant mortality rate– 26.3 deaths/1,000 live births
• Maternal mortality- 161 deaths/100,000 live births
• Stunting (% under five years ) – 32.4  
• Total fertility rate – 2.5 births per woman.                              
• HIV Prevalence adult ( % ages 15-49) – 0.6                                

Economy

• GDP – $ 22.16 billion (Trading Economics)
• Unemployment rate- 0.22 % (Statista)
• National poverty line:  17.7 %

Ecology

• Forest area- 53.5 % (World Bank )
• Number of National Parks – 7

Other

• Gender Inequality Index value – 0.473
• Child marriage – 19 %
• Human Development Index value –  0.582
• Corruption Rank- 161/180  (Transparency International)
• 2019 Ease of doing business score- 54.80 (World Bank )