Vietnam

Facts & Figures

Map of Vietnam
  • President: Nguyen Xuan Phuc (2021)

    Prime Minister: Pham Minh Chinh (2021)

    Land area: 119,718 sq mi (310,070 sq km); total area: 127,880 sq mi (331,210 sq km)

    Population (2022 est.): 103,808,319 (growth rate: .97%); birth rate: 15.69/1000; infant mortality rate: 14.75/1000; life expectancy: 75.52

    Capital (2022 est.): Hanoi, 7.1 million (metro. area), 5.067 million (city proper)

    Largest cities (2022): Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), 9.077 million; Can Tho, 1.786 million; Hai Phong, 1.382 million; Da Nang, 1.188 million; Bien Hoa, 1.078 million.

    Monetary unit: Dong

    National name: Công Hòa Xa Hôi Chú Nghia Viêt Nam

    Current government officials

    Languages: Vietnamese (official); English (increasingly favored as a second language); some French, Chinese, Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)

    Ethnicity/race: Kinh (Viet) 85.3%, Tay 1.9%, Thai 1.9%, Muong 1.5%, Khmer 1.4%, Mong 1.4%, Nung 1.1%, other 5.5% (2019 est.)

    Religions: Catholic 6.1%, Buddhist 5.8%, Protestant 1%, other 0.8%, none 86.3% (2019 est.)

    Literacy rate: 95.8% (2019 est.)

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2020 est.): $798.21 billion; per capita $8,200. Real growth rate: 6.8%. Inflation: 2.7%. Unemployment: 3.11%. Arable land: 20.6%. Agriculture: rice, coffee, rubber, tea, pepper, soybeans, cashews, sugar cane, peanuts, bananas; poultry; fish, seafood. Labor force: 54.659 million; agriculture 40.3%, industry 25.7%, services 34% (2019). Industries: food processing, garments, shoes, machine-building; mining, coal, steel; cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, mobile phones. Natural resources: phosphates, coal, manganese, rare earth elements, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, timber, hydropower. Exports: $280.83 billion (2019 est.): clothes, shoes, electronics, seafood, crude oil, rice, coffee, wooden products, machinery. Major trading partners (exports): United States 23%, China 14%, Japan 8%, South Korea 7% (2019). Imports: $261.68 billion (2019 est.): machinery and equipment, petroleum products, steel products, raw materials for the clothing and shoe industries, electronics, plastics, automobiles. Major trading partners (imports): China 35%, South Korea 18%, Japan 6% (2019).

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 3,205,775 (2020); mobile cellular: 136.23 million (2019). Radio broadcast stations: Government controls all broadcast media exercising oversight through the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC); government-controlled national TV provider, Vietnam Television (VTV), operates a network of 9 channels with several regional broadcasting centers; programming is relayed nationwide via a network of provincial and municipal TV stations; law limits access to satellite TV but many households are able to access foreign programming via home satellite equipment; government-controlled Voice of Vietnam, the national radio broadcaster, broadcasts on 6 channels and is repeated on AM, FM, and shortwave stations throughout Vietnam (2018). Television broadcast stations: at least 7 (plus 13 repeaters) (1998). Televisions: 3.57 million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 189,553 (2012). Internet users: 68,137,008 (2020).

    Transportation: Railways: total: 2,600 km (2014). Highways: total: 195,468 km; paved: 148,338 km; unpaved: 47,130 km (2013 est.). Waterways: 47,130 km (30,831 km weight under 50 tons) (2013). Ports and harbors: Cam Ranh, Da Nang, Haiphong, Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Long, Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, Vinh, Vung Tau. Airports: 45 (2021).

    International disputes: Southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to check the spread of avian flu; Cambodia and Laos protest Vietnamese squatters and armed encroachments along border; Cambodia accuses Vietnam of a wide variety of illicit cross-border activities; progress on a joint development area with Cambodia is hampered by an unresolved dispute over sovereignty of offshore islands; an estimated 300,000 Vietnamese refugees reside in China; establishment of a maritime boundary with Cambodia is hampered by unresolved dispute over the sovereignty of offshore islands; the decade-long demarcation of the China-Vietnam land boundary was completed in 2009; China occupies the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; Brunei claims a maritime boundary extending beyond as far as a median with Vietnam, thus asserting an implicit claim to Lousia Reef; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions but falls short of a legally binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants; Vietnam continues to expand construction of facilities in the Spratly Islands; in March 2005, the national oil companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord to conduct marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands; Economic Exclusion Zone negotiations with Indonesia are ongoing, and the two countries in Fall 2011 agreed to work together to reduce illegal fishing along their maritime boundary

    Major sources and definitions

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