Men stroll past roadside vendors as a painted truck makes its way through the busy street in Kabul, Afghanistan, November, 1961. (Photo by Henry S. Bradsher/AP Photo via The Atlantic)

A tribal Fulani man milks a cow at a local milk collecting centre in Dangwala Karfi village on the outskirts of Nigeria's northern city of Kano January 19, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

A model wears a creation for Stephane Rolland's Spring-Summer 2016 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Paris, Tuesday, January 26, 2016. (Photo by Francois Mori/AP Photo)

Army soldiers prepare a military elephant for the parade during a rehearsal for Sri Lanka's 68th Independence day celebrations in Colombo, February 2, 2016. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be around 6.5 million in 2012. A third (33%) of the country's population lives below the international poverty line which means living on less than U.S. $1.25 per day.

Russia's Maria Sharapova carries the torch during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Friday, February 7, 2014. (Photo by Matt Dunham/Associated Press)

Spanish bullfighter Julian Lopez “El Juli” adjusts his montera (bullfighter's hat) before starting a bullfight at the Malagueta bullring in Malaga, southern Spain, April 4, 2015. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)

Period-costumed actors participate in the 150th anniversary re-enactment of the surrender of General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Museum of Confederacy in Appomattox, Virginia, April 9, 2015. (Photo by Jay Paul/Reuters)