Born: 19 May 1925 · Died: 15 April 1998 · Age at death: 72
How old was Pol Pot when he died?
Pol Pot died aged 72. He was born on 19 May 1925 and died on 15 April 1998.
Leader of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge whose regime of 1975 to 1979 killed an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people
Did you know?As a young man, he spent several years in Paris on a government scholarship studying radio electronics.
Quick facts
Date of birth19 May 1925
Date of death15 April 1998
Age at death72
NationalityCambodian
BirthplacePrek Sbauv, Cambodia
Occupationpolitician, military officer
Editor's Take:
Pol Pot led one of the deadliest regimes of the 20th century. He studied in Paris, where he joined communist circles. As leader of the Khmer Rouge, he seized Cambodia in 1975 and declared "Year Zero". Cities were emptied and people were forced into labour camps. Money, schools and religion were abolished. Around 1.5 to 2 million people died from execution, starvation and disease. Vietnam drove him from power in 1979, but he was never tried.
Key Milestones
1949: Paris – scholarship
1963: Party leader – Khmer Rouge
1975: Phnom Penh – falls
1979: Overthrown – Vietnamese invasion
Pol Pot (born Saloth Sâr; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 until his overthrow in 1979 during the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
