Vietnam
|
| Basic Facts |
| Country name |
conventional long form: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
conventional short form: Vietnam local long form: Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Viet Nam local short form: Viet Nam abbreviation: SRV |
| Gevernment type | Communist state |
| Capital |
name: Hanoi
geographic coordinates: 21 02 N, 105 51 E time difference: UTC+7 (12 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| Flag description | red with a large yellow five-pointed star in the center |
| Currency | dong (VND) |
| Internet country code | .vn |
| Ports and terminals | Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City |
| Agriculture products | paddy rice, coffee, rubber, cotton, tea, pepper, soybeans, cashews, sugar cane, peanuts, bananas; poultry; fish, seafood |
| Industries | food processing, garments, shoes, machine-building; mining, coal, steel; cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, paper |
| Geography |
| Location | Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia |
| Coordinates | 16 00 N, 106 00 E |
| Continent | Southeast Asia |
| Area |
total: 329,560 sq km
land: 325,360 sq km water: 4,200 sq km |
| 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) |
| Climate | tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (May to September) and warm, dry season (October to March) |
| Terrain | low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest |
| Natural resources | phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests, hydropower |
| Natural hazards | occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding, especially in the Mekong River delta |
| People |
| Population | 84,402,966 (July 2006 est.) |
| 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 (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
