FACTBOOK, BASIC & USEFUL INFORMATION OF VIETNAM

When you travel to any country, the first thing you need is a factbook, basic & useful information. On this page, we will provide things at a glance.

More Information About Vietnam

– Basic details
– 54 groups of people
– Weather & climate
– Traditions, customs & rites
– Main festivals, holidays & recreation
– Tales & legends
– International border entry/exit gates

Location

Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and East Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia.

Geographic coordinates: 16 00 N, 106 00 E

Map references: Southeast Asia.

Area

total: 329,560 sq km (land: 325,360 sq km, water: 4,200 sq km)

Land boundaries: total: 4,639 km (border countries: Cambodia 1,228 km, China 1,281 km, Laos 2,130 km)

Coastline: 3,444 km (excludes islands)

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm, contiguous zone: 12 nm, exclusive economic zone: 200 nm, continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin.

Climate

Tropical in the south; monsoonal in north with the hot, rainy season (May to September) and the warm, dry season (October to March)

Terrain

Low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest.

Elevation extremes: lowest point: East Sea 0 m, highest point: Fan Si Pan 3,144 m.

Resources

Natural resources: phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests, hydropower.

Land use: arable land: 20.14%, permanent crops: 6.93%, other: 72.93% (2005)

Irrigated land: 30,000 sq km (2003)

Natural Hazards

Occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding, especially in the Mekong River delta.

Environment

International agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements.

Environment – current issues: logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices contribute to deforestation and soil degradation; water pollution and overfishing threaten marine life populations; groundwater contamination limits potable water supply; growing urban industrialization and population migration are rapidly degrading the environment in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Geography

Note: extending 1,650 km north to south, the country is only 50 km across at its narrowest point.

Population

About 96 million (2019 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 27% (male 11,826,457/female 10,983,069), 15-64 years: 67.1% (male 28,055,941/female 28,614,553), 65 years and over: 5.8% (male 1,924,562/female 2,998,384) (2006 est.)

Median age: total: 25.9 years, male: 24.8 years, female: 27.1 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.02% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 16.86 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate: 6.22 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female, under 15 years: 1.08 male(s)/female, 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female, 65 years and over: 0.64 male(s)/female, total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Birth

Infant mortality rate: total: 25.14 deaths/1,000 live births (male: 25.54 deaths/1,000 live births, female: 24.72 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 70.85 years (male: 68.05 years, female: 73.85 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.91 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: 0.4% (2003 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 220,000 (2003 est.)

Deaths: 9,000 (2003 est.)

Major Infectious Diseases

degree of risk: high (food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever, vector-borne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and plague are high risks in some locations, animal contact disease: rabies, water contact disease: leptospirosis, note: at present, H5N1 avian influenza poses a minimal risk; during outbreaks among birds, rare cases could occur among US personnel who have close contact with infected birds or poultry (2005). In 2020 and 2021, Covid-19 or Coronavirus was a really bad pandemic that stopped most tourism activities in the country.

Nationality

Noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural), adjective: Vietnamese.

Ethnic Groups

Kinh (Viet) 86.2%, Tay 1.9%, Thai 1.7%, Muong 1.5%, Khome 1.4%, Hoa 1.1%, Nun 1.1%, Hmong 1%, others 4.1% (1999 census)

Religions

Buddhist 9.3%, Catholic 6.7%, Hoa Hao 1.5%, Cao Dai 1.1%, Protestant 0.5%, Muslim 0.1%, none 80.8% (1999 census)

Languages

Vietnamese (official), English (second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write, total population: 90.3%, male: 93.9%, female: 86.9% (2002)