There is something to be said when it comes to the laziest nations in the world. Most publications associate laziness with what people do (or NOT do) in their spare time, after all duties have been taken care of. To me, that’s a fundamental mistake and doesn’t reflect on the laziness at all. People who bust their butts off so they can have some time for themselves are not lazy. True laziness comes to play when an entire nation can’t get the work – the necessary duties done because they can’t be bothered to get off their soft motorcycle seats. And this is why Cambodia is the laziest nation in the world. Everywhere you go, any time of day you will see hundreds of people of all ages idling in the streets, doing absolutely nothing just killing time by hanging loose. You will be wondering why they are all out here doing nothing. You will be asking yourself – shouldn’t these people be at work and kids at school? How can a nation sustain itself if nobody can be bothered to do any work? Those are all legitimate questions and anyone who pays attention will undoubtedly have them cross their minds upon their first visit to Cambodia.
Photo: Lazy Cambodian Youth Killing Time With Their Motorcycles
History of Cambodia – The Laziest Nation in the World
It comes as a striking contrast when one visits the temples of Angkor Archaeological Park and sees the megalomaniac structures Angkorian era civilization was capable of constructing. Could the laziest nation in the world built the world’s largest religious complex? Obviously, Cambodia a millennium ago was different from Cambodia today – aside from being a culture of violence, as Cambodians are as violent today as they have always been.
So Cambodians were definitely not lazy back then, back when the temples of Angkor were built, but what happened? That I guess is as difficult to explain as is the abrupt end to once powerful empire. Ancient Khmer rulers were on top of the game and controlled the region but then something happened and Angkor was abandoned. Everything about the Khmer people, everything – including their approach to work has changed. The end of Angkorian era was the end of decent Cambodia. The empire failed and so did the people. People who were once capable of building monumental structures are nowadays capable of nothing more than idling and doing absolutely a great deal of nothing. Unless verbally and physically abusing foreigners can be considered an activity. Luckily the former can be done from the comfort of their motorcycle seat…
Photo: Once Capable of Building Monumental Temples, Now The Laziest Nation in the World
The fact that Cambodia is the laziest nation in the world is not something I am the first person to notice. When the French entered the area and colonized the country in the 1800s, they noticed that Cambodians are incredibly lazy and never get anything done. No matter what they’d tried, no Cambodian could be bothered to get off their ass so the French were left with one and only option – go to a foreign land and bring the people from there to work in Cambodia. Vietnam was the closest and since colonization of Thailand was never much of a success for the French, Vietnam it was. Obviously, it wouldn’t matter where they’d go as any normal nation will have many people who can get the work done, it’s only Cambodia where there was absolutely no one who could be bothered.
Cambodia – Still the Laziest Nation in the World
Today, centuries after the French learned the hard way that nothing in Cambodia gets done because Cambodians are extremely lazy, the situation is unchanged. Cambodia is still the laziest nation in the world but the French are no longer the only ones to know it. Following the industrial revolution, many multi-national companies moved much of their production to Asia and have factories in countries surrounding Cambodia, but none of them is in any rush to open one in this country. Now why would that be? Obviously, they know something that prevents them from making a grave mistake of investing in Cambodia and employing Cambodians. It’s their money and money of their shareholders that are in stake and as such, none of these companies will ever consider opening a factory in Cambodia because they know that nothing would ever get done.
You will find countless garment producers, such as Nike or Adidas, or electronics makers, such as Samsung or Siemens in surrounding countries (Vietnam, Malaysia, etc.) but none of them would consider opening a factory in Cambodia. So why is given that cost of labour in Cambodia is often lower than cost of labour in any of the surrounding countries? Why would they not consider opening a factory in Cambodia if there is a prospect for them to save money on wages? Do they know something we don’t know? Yes they do. They know that no matter how (seemingly) inexpensive the labour is in Cambodia, because people here are the laziest people in the world, at the end of the day nothing would get done.
See the Laziest Nation in the World for Yourself
It doesn’t take a genius to see that Cambodia is the laziest nation in the world. Anyone with marginal observation talent will notice that people here can’t be bothered to work. They just sit around whole day on their motorcycles, hiding from the sun in the shade, grouping up with buddies who are as lazy as themselves, killing their time they have too much of by verbally or physically abusing the foreigners. This laziness is present on every corner of every street in Cambodia and it is one of the reason why Cambodia is so dangerous. Because vast majority of population is not involved with their lives, they are not busy looking after their families so they seek excitement from the comfort of their motorcycle seats.
Those who spend an extra time in Cambodia will notice that progress in everything is extremely slow. When there is a construction going on, you will see people sitting around and chatting instead of getting the work done. That’s why every serious firm looking to open a retail shop or a hotel will contract foreign companies to built the business for them. Contracting Cambodians would mean the business will take forever to start.
Photo: Common Picture in Cambodia - Instead of Being at Work, Lazy Locals Just Sit Around
Laziness however exists in all walks of life in Cambodia. Kids don’t go to school because they can’t be bothered to learn or do the homeworks. Are you kidding me? A Cambodian kid learning at home to maybe become someone more than a tout who makes abuse of foreigners their life purpose? This ain’t happening.
Cambodia – Most Expensive Labour in the World
When you look deeper into it, you will realize that the cost of labour in Cambodia is one of the highest in the world. Average monthly wage could be only $90, but given how extremely lazy Cambodians are, you will get at best 2 hours worth of labour per person per month. So by paying a Cambodian $90 a month, you are basically paying them $45 per hour. Normal Cambodian is so lazy they will not produce more than 2 hours worth of labour a month and do not forget that that’s only upon excessive supervision and investment of extra 10 hours of your own time to fix up what they had screwed up during their 2 hours worth of work. One really needs to put things in perspective before jumping to conclusions that Cambodians are underpaid. I could only wish I got $45 per hour for my work.
Photo: We Were Hired to Work, But Can't Be Bothered to Kick In
Supporting Cambodian Laziness
Shockingly enough, the world approves of and supports Cambodian laziness. With each dollar donated to Cambodians, with each piece of merchandise that makes it to Cambodia, the laziest nation of the world remains assured that they don’t have to try to change, that it makes no sense working hard for a dollar. If doing nothing lands them free money and things, why would they even attempt to work? Work has been excluded from their lives for centuries and there’s never been more reason to stay lazy than there is now. The philosophy is simple:
Let us do nothing and enjoy our lives without worrying about work, because work requires sacrifices and is tiring and distressing. Instead, let others go through the hassles and tension of employment. Let them work hard their entire lives, struggle for decades to eventually make it up the ladder, renouncing their spare time, their families and friends, let them dedicate the best part of their life to working for the man, instead of spending it with their loved ones, because by wearing themselves out working, they will eventually manage to save a few dollars up and that’s when we enter their view and have them send their money, the money they worked so hard for to us. That’s it – if you are too lazy and irresponsible to work, just whine about being poor and you’ll end up getting money from someone who was brought up being responsible and sacrificed their best years for work.
Photo: To Be Fair, Here Is a Picture of the Least Lazy Member of the Cambodian Society
It is no secret that countries with strong work ethic are successful on an international scale. Lack of work ethic often means lack of character which is something that anyone who pays attention notices shortly after entering Cambodia. Most Cambodians will prefer to look and stay poor so they can get free stuff by getting sponsors to pay for them or donors to give it to them. An alternative to this is to roll up the sleeves and start to work hard for your money but that’s work, isn’t it? Why work if you can get stuff for free by whining out loud? Cambodia is without doubt the laziest nation in the world. You can see it everywhere you look, but it’s also proven by no interest in Cambodian labor from any multinational corporation and historical records of people who tried to make Cambodians work but failed. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong.
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What you’re saying makes perfect sense, Mark. Many European countries were literally destroyed by two world wars. Whole cities were levelled to the ground, loss of life reached unprecedented numbers yet when the wars were over, people rolled up their sleeves and got to work. 30 years later, many of these countries became economical superpowers.
Comparing Cambodian genocide to WWI and WWII is like comparing a mosquito bite to Nikki Catsouras’ accident aftermath. Obviously, since damage done to Cambodia was nowhere near that of Europe, fixing Cambodia would be like climbing a mole hill if fixing Europe would be akin to climbing K2.
Yet here we are, 30 years later and Cambodia is nowhere near where Europe was 30 years after the end of World War II. Would Europe rebound after 30 years had people who lived there acted like Cambodians?
What you’re saying definitely makes perfect sense. Lamenting will not fix a country. Hard work will. That’s why Cambodia remains where it is today. The laziest nation in the world.
It’s hurt to read this but it’s true. I studied hard, I work hard. I do not stay at home just to cook and look after the children, I hate the culture of how they treat women. I hate their habit of no urgency. I hate the way they live their life by just sitting around and waiting the money to come. Yet I do not wish to see anyone would refer Cambodian as lazy or in another meaning useless.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just expressing how would one actually feel. Not every Cambodian are lazy. The person whom should be part of the blame is Gov and Media. What do they show on the TV? Concerts, boxing and concert. Did I mention Boxing? Yes, Boxing. Nothing but the meaningless medias and noneducational programs. And what they do to the educational ones? They banned them. What do they do to the free speaking journalist? They banned them (not officially though)
The unhealthy trend of how they live their life have been injected to the young generation one by one. Doing nothing is a good. Being rude is cool. Going to university just to get famous and romance. All just a piece of crap.
I don’t see any bright light at the end of the tunnel. All I can do is to accept the fact that we are now referred to world most lazy nation from the eyes of the world. That’s just plain painful.
I wouldn’t thank you for writing all these. I wouldn’t hate you for writing the truth as well. I just wish we can do better, not to please you, but to claim our name out of that little black book that you’d like to call it The World Most Lazy Nation, not for you, for ourselves.
p.s. your blog is very informative.
Hello Soph,
what Cambodia needs the most in new government. There will be little to no improvement in the lives of ordinary Cambodians for as long as your current government stays in power. Trouble is, that their grip on power is so strong, none from within Cambodia could get rid of them. They are the most corrupt governmental body in the world with full control of the military, the police, the judiciary system and the public sector. It will take an intervention from abroad to remove them from power but that’s not likely to happen. The West blindly sends them more money which they use to strengthen their power grip on the country.
Your government is the reason why there is so little progress in Cambodia. General population is deprived of quality health care and education, creating society that lacks in both regards. Healthy and educated populace are the fundamental stepping stones of a prosperous society. But healthy and educated populace would also understand that it’s their government that’s the real cause of problems so I’m not surprised they deprive you of these fundamentals.
As another commenter said above – if you consider how far Japan got in 30 years from destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or how far Germany got 30 years from thorough annihilation during which many cities got levelled to the ground, you will understand that Cambodia must leave the reign of Khmer Rouge behind and move on. The excuse that the country went through a lot during the Khmer Rouge years should not be an excuse to not strive for progress.
Your current government, the very organization that systematically keeps the people of Cambodia impoverished must be made go. Do not ever give them your vote again and educate everyone you can on it so they understand the real reason why 12 Million, out of 14 Million people of Cambodia live on less than $2 a day.
Mark
Blaming the media and the government without blaming the immoral greedy cambodian women(who “snatched” my husband and my home without a sense of shame) or who do not know how to behave morally and who do not know how to bring up their children properly is just abit unfair. And it is also unfair for cambodian to blame westerners for their immorality when the greedy cambodians are already well known for being so laidback about their own cambodian immorality..
Hi Mark,
I got the link to your blog from a Cambodian friend. And, I’m also a Cambodian. It is really unfair to all the Cambodian people and to the country, itself, when someone just write on the blog that Cambodia is the laziest in the “world”: The reasons for that is: first of all, your particular bad experience in Cambodia can’t be used to generalize the whole population. Anyway, I’m really sorry for what happened to you during the visit. For example, when someone is just robbed during their visit to a country, is it fair to call that country a country of robber? This would be unfair to those who are honest, hardworking families who try to make their country proud and everyday work for the progress of their country. Secondly, what measures did one use to measure the laziness of a country? A few pictures on the blog don’t tell a whole lot of stories. Otherwise, with a few examples I experienced I can’t hesitate to call Australians and Americans are the laziest who prefer staying idle and waiting for unemployment benefits to coming to work even though a shop called to offer them the jobs. Finally, there are people who do have good experience visiting Cambodia who are inspired by the smile of the people who understand the root cause of the issue in the country who understand the need of the people who always want to be better persons and as an inspiration to help these people, they have devoted their time, energy and wealth in this small country. I can’t hesitate to give an example of a French couple at the PSE Cambodia and there are more of them. I as a Cambodian do appreciate and am thankful to their contribution to the better of my country.
Having said so, I do admit that the current gov’t is part of the root cause of delayed progress and poverty. We do need a change. We do need to move faster. However, your blog stories attack most of the part on the people, the culture we inherited as a nation rather than the government and leader or the governance. However, I did see your comments on the government to Soph.
To me: when one can’t make any better for this world, please don’t try to destroy it.
Regards,
S. Lim
I’ve lived in Cambodia and China. China is much more lazy than Cambodia.
Declining an unsuitable creepy job does not necessarily meant laziness. But Cambodians who used their socalled poverty or lazy asian culture to exploit and rip off unwary poor foreign tourists just to make some easy money is just one of the obvious sign of lazy cambodian culture. Cambodians should stop depending on foreigners to improve their country. It is the Cambodians who were guilty of destroying their own country and it should be up to cambodians and cambodians responsibility to improve their country .
Longman Dictionary difines LAZY as not liking work and physical activity, or not making any effort to do anything [=idle]. Declining a creepy job is not an act of laziness, but preferring being idle to work is. I cannot see using a strategy to extract the surplus from the buyer is called a lazy culture. I’m sorry to tell you that the easy money those Cambodians make from the tourists is called consumer surplus in economics. In a market with imperfect information, the seller can set the price as high as s/he wants to, but ultimately the buyer is the one who decides to buy it or not. And, if the offered price is less or at least equal to the level that a buyer is wlling to pay; then, thats a match. Both sides benefit. Look this up in introductory microeconomics at consumer surplus and producer surplus. This is the strategy the airliners, mobile phones, Microsofts, Apple are using everyday in their businesses. Again, this is not called a lazy culture. Believe me or not. Go to a theater, a shopping center in a museum, things are twice as much expensive as those outside or even more.
I do agree that the responsiblities lie with all the Cambodian people to build its own country. Noone is going to come and make you rich or the aid from those foreigners are not going to help you out of poverty, either.
However, when the leader loves his power more than the people, when the leader never wants a change which makes people more educated and their lives better, when a leader everyday goes out there and declares he will cling to the power until the end of his life, it is a desaster for a nation. Corruption is everywhere. Students have to pay extra money (plus transcript fee) to get their transcript issued; parents have to pay money to get their kids birth certificates.
At the same time, we also see the improvement although very slow, the changes although very little because of the conditions tied to the aid. Several research has supported the positive relationship between aid and growth. However, I also do believe that a country should not depend aid to help grow its economy, but I also accept that aid at the very least has helped the worst get a bit better. And it is the people of its own who are the builders. I also want to see a complete change in the government, a change which ensures an active rebuild and reform of the country and the government that create, build and sell.
I think it unfair to overwhelm any consumers with lousy service or substandard service due to the lazy nature of ther service providers. A hard working community would seek at all times to give the best choce and to give more choice to the consumers and not limit to only certain substandard choice or or provide the poor consumers with no choice at all. That is not really a hard working community, though it may appear to be superficailly so. Tourists may have no choice or make the wrong choice in travelling to a horrible place but still tourists have a right not to be exploited by substandard or horrible services at an unreasonable high price. I don’t subcribe to working for a lazy society who are only interested in profits but not quality. Creepy jobs that lead to immorality or harm to consumers should also be avoided. Hardworking jobseekers should have a wide range of jobs to choose from. Whether the job is menial or not is not the issue. It is how the society work on the menial jobs and the respect and the effort that it gives to any jobs, no matter how menial it is or how lowly it is that gives the person respectability and not what job the person holds. Asians in general have a very poor attitude toward menial jobs and looked down irrationally on people who worked on menial jobs. People who have an idle job that don’t need much physical activity or effort, can also be considered as lazy though they have a job title and though that does not meant to be demeaning to them in anyway. Those women who involved voluntarily in creepy jobs such as prostitution just to enrich themselves or feed their greed is also creepy and immoral. Making an effort to be morally upright as well as positively productive is a balance that any society that wish to advance itself should try to achieve and not the mindless greed that asians or cambodians tend to go for.
And furthermore, I noticed many asians or cambodians, even when they have a real paying job or business, they make very little effort to improve and most often stay idle. I would not like to be in an idle job with almost nothing to do. It would have bored me to death. If I get paid, I like to be active and doing lots of work and not having to sit down with nothing to do.
I think not many people are that lucky to have connections or have a real paying job continously and therefore if they were forced to be idle out of no choice, that is not really laziness.
The laziness was most probably imposed by their unfair society that caused all the laziness and demotivation. But I do find a problem with a backward society who have so much resources and who are habitually lazy even though they have a real job or get paid to do a job.
S. Lim should take note that Australians and Americans whose western forefathers had worked hard and they themselves who had worked hard to to contribute in a small way or big way, have a right to share whatever benefits that their western countries generously gives out, whether it is unemployment benefit or whatever benefit becaue they are entilteld to it or because they fallen on bad times and not due to laziness. What S. Lim should take note is that asian immigrants like cambodians who had immigrated to western land for an instant good life should not be given any welfare or financial benefits because they are lazy and not entilted to it and because their asian countries governments are selfish and never help foreigners in need or their own unemployed people. It is time asian governments helped their own asian people instead of forcing their asian poor to beg from western tourists. This not only gives out a very bad image of asian people but also proved that asian governments are not only selfish but also uncaring.We don’t need any fake smile from the cambodian or any asian people. We just need some honesty and some decency.
S. Lim, let me tell you, Cambodians ARE the laziest and most useless people on the face of this earth! You’re even too lazy to teach your children ANYTHING, like NOT to play on a street or NOT to run in front of a car or NOT to scream like pigs all day – or to learn how to drive like a human being and NOT like a headless chicken – you’re even too lazy to cook proper meals.On top of that, Cambodians have no honor, no faith, no imagination, no grace at all. A bunch of arrogant, ignorant, greedy, lying, thieving, cheating yama-ice addicts is, what ALL of you are. Try to prove me wrong – you can’t! I have many Thai, Indonesian and some Malaysian friends and buddies but in almost 4 years I was not able to find ONE Cambodian worth the dirt under his finger nails! Non of you looks for friendship, you look only for your advantage. After the Thais attacked the temple 3 years ago, I heard many Cambodians shouting:’Why everybody look down on us?’ I did not understand back then, now I do! The way you look down at monkeys is exactly the way everybody is looking down at Cambodians. After living for 1 year in Australia, one year in Indonesia, 9 years Thailand and having never racist thoughts, 1 year Cambodia was enough to make me a raving racist. Cambodians accomplished that.