Cambodia
Asia & the Pacific
of males circumcised
Rare
Demographics
Circumcision rate, in context
Estimated share of males circumcised
Estimates derived from WHO/UNAIDS-based prevalence data. Global average ≈ 38%.
The picture in Cambodia
An estimated 5% of males are circumcised in Cambodia (Asia & the Pacific).
By the Numbers
Circumcision prevalence with HIV, education & policy indicators as context. Tap any card to compare.
Circumcision rate
% of males
5%
Context indicators from public UNAIDS/WHO-based sources; some scores are editorial or pending. Figures describe each country and are not evidence of causation.
Sexually Transmitted Infections
HIV and related indicators — context, not proof that circumcision protects.
Circumcision is often sold as protection against HIV and other infections. That claim comes from a narrow set of trials and applies, at most, to one route of transmission — it is not general STI protection. The figures below describe Cambodia; they reflect many factors (testing, behaviour, healthcare access, and reporting) and are not evidence that circumcision causes or prevents them.
How STIs actually spread — and what protects you1 in 500 adults
1 in 13,000 people
85 / 100
down 62% — getting better
Sexual Education
How well-equipped young people are with the facts.
Sex-education gap
60 / 100 — moderate gapComprehensive sex education is widely regarded as the most effective — and least invasive — tool for sexual health. This score estimates the gap between what young people in Cambodia are taught and best practice: a higher number means a wider gap. Education, not surgery, is what consistently improves outcomes.
Research coverage
How complete and source-backed this country file is.
Sources
8
Legal status
Curated
Write-up
Available
Incidents
None verified
Derived from current data.
Open full research fileThe law
Legal status of non-therapeutic circumcision of minors.
Cambodia has no specific statute regulating or restricting non-therapeutic male circumcision of minors. The practice is rare and foreign to the Theravada Buddhist Khmer majority; it is confined to the Cham Muslim minority as an established Islamic religious rite (khitan).
No Cambodian law specifically regulates, sets a minimum age for, or bans non-therapeutic male circumcision of minors (a negative finding — Cambodia does not appear in surveys of jurisdictions that regulate circumcision). This is best read as "no specific statute found", an absence-of-evidence conclusion, rather than a positively verified legal vacuum: no primary Cambodian legal text was located, and generic medical-licensing/health law would govern any clinical procedure. The practice is not a Khmer-Buddhist custom; among the Cham Muslim minority it is a Sunni Shafi'i religious rite, increasingly performed clinically (charities provide free medical circumcision to poor Cham boys precisely to reduce the bleeding/infection risk of traditional methods). Male circumcision must not be conflated with female genital cutting, which is unrelated and not a Cambodian practice. Status UNREGULATED reflects the absence of a statute.
Research about Cambodia
Peer-reviewed findings specific to this country, from our reference library.
~3–5% national (modeled) — ≈ the Cham minority, not a Khmer norm.
Cham Muslim minority (~1–2%) is the practising community.
Circumcision framed as a Cham religious rite, increasingly clinical.
HIV reversal via condoms/testing/ART — circumcision not mentioned.
First in Asia-Pacific to reach 95-95-95 — no circumcision.
Benchmarks & context
International evidence for reading the figures above — not measured Cambodia rates.
~1,400,920 circumcisions, all ages (US insurance claims data)
Total adverse events under 0.5%; serious AEs ~0.0008%–0.07%. Crucially, AE rates 10–20× higher when done AFTER infancy (ages 1–9) than neonatally — directly relevant where boys are cut older (e.g. PH tuli at ~8–12).
[104]Voluntary medical male circumcision, ages 10–14, trained providers
Severe adverse events on the order of 1–3 per 100,000 — but ONLY with trained providers, quality assurance and informed consent. The benchmark for what safe, supervised provision looks like; the opposite end from informal provision.
[105]Cases reported to WHO, 2014–2018
WHO logged 32 urethral-fistula cases (2014–2018) and, in one tetanus consultation, 8 deaths among 12 associated cases. Illustrative of rare-but-severe harms in unhygienic settings — not a national rate.
[66]Traditional vs physician providers
One Turkish series found 85% complications with traditional providers vs 2.6% with physicians; a Kenyan one 35% vs 17%. Provider setting dominates outcomes — the pattern behind warnings about informal practitioners everywhere.
[66]American Academy of Pediatrics task force
Benefits said to outweigh risks but “not great enough” to recommend routine circumcision — leaving the decision to families. The reference point invoked on both sides of the consent/necessity debate.
[93]Inpatient neonatal circumcisions, 2001–2010
200 early deaths over ten years among 9.83 million inpatient neonatal circumcisions — explicitly correlational, NOT causal. A measured counterpoint to higher litigation-cited estimates.
[91]News from Cambodia
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