Viet Nam                                       Close to return to HomePage

Region

Southeast Asia

Population

79,939,014 (July 2001 Estimate)

 Area Total

329,560 km2

 Area Land

325,360 km2

Coastline

3,444 km

Climate

Tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot rainy season

Languages

Vietnamese (official)
Chinese
English
French
Khmer
Tribal languages

Currency

1 new dong (D) = 100 xu

Holiday

Independence Day, 2 September 1945

 

Boundaries

Laos

2,130 km

China

1,281 km

Cambodia

1,228 km

 

Ethnic Divisions

Vietnamese, Chinese, Muong, Tai, Meo, Khmer, Man and cham

 

 

Religions

Buddhist, Taoist, Roman Catholic, Indigenous beliefs, Islam, Protestant,

 

Cao Dai and Hoa Hao

 

 

Largest Cities

City

Population

Estimated

Ho Chi Minh City

3,341,900

2001

Haiphong

1,764,200

2001

Hanoi

1,349,400

2001

 

People
Ethnic Vietnamese constitute almost 90 percent of the population.

 

 

History
The ancestors of the present-day Vietnamese originally inhabited in today’s southern China and northern Vietnam.

 

 

Economy
Vietnam is a poor, densely populated country that has had to recover from the ravages of war, the loss of financial support from the old Soviet Bloc, and the rigidities of a centrally planned economy.

 

 

Environment
In Vietnam, 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; and finally, growing urban industrialization and population migration are rapidly degrading environment in urban centers such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Key current environmental issues in Vietnam include the following:

-Deforestation
-Soil degradation
-Water pollution
-Threats to marine life as a result of overfishing
-Limited supplies of potable water

Major natural hazards in Vietnam include occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding.

Regulation and protection of the environment in Vietnam is controlled and operated under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Marine Products.

The major international agreements which Vietnam is party to include: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, and Wetlands.

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