 National name: Công Hòa Xa Hôi Chú Nghia Viêt Nam
President: Tran Duc Luong (1997)
Prime Minister: Phan Van Khai (1997)
Area: 127,243 sq mi (329,560 sq km)
Monetary unit: Dong
Population (2005 est.): 83,535,576
- growth rate: 1.0%;
- birth rate: 17.1/1000;
- infant mortality rate: 25.9/1000;
- life expectancy: 70.6;
- density per sq mi: 657
Capital (2003 est.): Hanoi, 2,543,700 (metro. area), 1,396,500 (city proper)
Largest cities:
- Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), 5,894,100 (metro. area), 3,415,300 (city proper);
- Haiphong, 581,600;
- Da Nang, 452,700;
- Hué 271,900;
- Nha Trang, 270,100;
- Qui Nho'n, 199,700
Languages:
- Vietnamese (official);
- English (increasingly favored as a second language);
- some French,
- Chinese,
- Khmer;
- mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
Ethnicity/race:
- Vietnamese 85%-90%,
- Chinese,
- Hmong,
- Thai,
- Khmer,
- Cham,
- mountain groups | Religions:
- Buddhist,
- Hoa Hao,
- Cao Dai,
- Christian (predominantly Roman Catholic, some Protestant),
- indigenous beliefs,
- Muslim |
Literacy rate: 94% (2003 est.)
Economic summary:
- GDP/PPP (2004 est.): $227.2 billion; per capita $2,700.
- Real growth rate: 7.7%.
- Inflation: 9.5%.
- Unemployment: 1.9%.
- Arable land: 20%.
- Agriculture: paddy rice, corn, potatoes, rubber, soybeans, coffee, tea, bananas, sugar; poultry, pigs; fish.
- Labor force: 42.98 million; agriculture 63%, industry and services 37% (2000 est.).
- Industries: food processing, garments, shoes, machine-building, mining, cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, coal, steel, paper.
- Natural resources: phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests, hydropower.
- Exports: $19.88 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): crude oil, marine products, rice, coffee, rubber, tea, garments, shoes.
- Imports: $22.5 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertilizer, steel products, raw cotton, grain, cement, motorcycles.
- Major trading partners: U.S., Japan, Australia, China, Germany, Singapore, UK, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand.
Communications:
- Telephones: main lines in use: 2.6 million (2000); mobile cellular: 730,155 (2000).
- Radio broadcast stations: AM 65, FM 7, shortwave 29 (1999).
- Radios: 8.2 million (1997).
- Television broadcast stations: at least 7 (plus 13 repeaters) (1998).
- Televisions: 3.57 million (1997).
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 5 (2000).
- Internet users: 400,000 (2002).
Transportation:
- Railways: total: 3,142 km (2002).
 - Highways: total: 93,300 km; paved: 23,418 km; unpaved: 69,882 km (1999 est.).
- Waterways: 17,702 km navigable; more than 5,149 km navigable at all times by vessels up to 1.8 m draft.
- Ports and harbors: Cam Ranh, Da Nang, Haiphong, Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Long, Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, Vinh, Vung Tau.
- Airports: 47 (2002).
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