About: Baháʼí Faith in Laos

The Baháʼí Faith in Laos begins after a brief mention by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1916 and the first Baháʼí enters Laos in about 1955. The first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly is known to be first elected by 1958 in Vientiane and eventually Laos' own National Spiritual Assembly is first elected in 1967. The current community is approximately eight thousand adherents and four centers: Vientiane, Vientiane Province, Kaysone Phomvihane, Pakxe and smaller populations in other provinces. While well established and able to function as communities in these cities, Baháʼís have a harder time in other provinces and cannot print their own religious materials. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated almost 14000 Baháʼís in 2005.