Once one of the most promising economies in South-East Asia, it was torn apart by the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. During this period, the social and economic fabric of the nation was all but destroyed. Entire cities were evacuated, with infrastructure left in ruins.
Most of the population was forced to work as slave labour in rice paddies. Up to 2 million people (a quarter of the country’s population) died as a result of starvation, disease, torture and executions.
This is history for the rest of the world, but for the people of Cambodia, the legacy of this period is disturbingly real.
Reports of economic growth are deceptive, because the wealth often does not flow through to disadvantaged rural communities.