Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)

The Golden Triangle (Burmese: ရွှေတြိဂံ နယ်မြေ, IPA: [ʃwè tɹḭɡàɴ nɛ̀mjè]; Thai: สามเหลี่ยมทองคำ, IPA: [sǎːm.lìəm.tʰɔːŋ.kʰam]; Lao: ສາມຫຼ່ຽມທອງຄຳ; Vietnamese: Tam giác Vàng; Khmer: តំបន់ត្រីកោណមាស) is one of Asia's two main opium-producing areas. It is an area of around 950,000 square kilometres (367,000 sq mi) that overlaps the mountains of three countries of Southeast Asia: Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

Along with Afghanistan in the Golden Crescent, it has been one of the most extensive opium-producing areas of Asia and of the world since the 1950s. Most of the world's heroin came from the Golden Triangle until the early 21st century when Afghanistan became the world's largest producer.

The Golden Triangle designates the confluence of the Ruak River and the Mekong River, since the term has been appropriated by the Thai tourist industry to describe the nearby border tripoint of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

Myanmar is the world's second largest producer of illicit opium, after Afghanistan and has been a significant cog in the transnational drug trade since World War II. According to the UNODC it is estimated that in 2005 there wеrе 430 square kilometres (167 sq mi) of opium cultivation in Myanmar.

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