Vietnam
Country Overview
The US had entered hostilities to stem the "domino effect" of successive nations falling to communism.
The jungle war produced heavy casualties on both sides, atrocities against civilians, and the indiscriminate destruction and contamination of much of the landscape.
A visit to Vietnam by US President Bill Clinton in November 2000 was presented as the culmination of American efforts to normalize relations with the former enemy.
Vietnam struggled to find its feet after unification and the one-party communist state tried at first to organize the agriculture-based economy along strict collectivist lines.
Elements of market forces and private enterprise were introduced from the late 1980s and a stock exchange opened in 2000. Vietnam has seen increasing foreign investment and the US is now its main trading partner. In the cities, the consumer market is growing, fueled by the appetite of a young, middle class for electronic and luxury goods. The country is jockeying for membership of the World Trade Organization.
However, the disparity in wealth between urban and rural Vietnam is wide and some Communist Party leaders worry that too much economic liberalization will weaken their power base and introduce "decadent" ideas into Vietnamese society. Vietnam has been accused of suppressing political dissent and religious freedom. Rights groups have singled out Hanoi's treatment of ethnic minority hill tribe people, collectively known as Montagnards.
Demographics
Unless otherwise noted, the data presented here is from 2005.
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
Government Type: Communist state
Capital: Hanoi
Population: 83,535,576
Age Structure:
- 0-14 years: 27.9% (male 12,065,777 / female 11,212,299)
- 15-64 years: 66.4% (male 27,406,456 / female 28,024,250)
- 65 years and over: 5.8% (male 1,889,585 / female 2,937,209)
Median Age:
- Total: 25.51 years
- Male: 24.47 years
- Female: 26.68 years
Language(s): Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
Literacy: (number of citizens age 15 and over who can read and write, 2002 est.)
- Total population: 90.3%
- Male: 93.9%
- Female: 86.9%
Religion: 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)
Climate: Tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (mid-May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-October to mid-March)
Labor Force by Occupation: Agriculture 63%, industry and services 37% (2000 est.)
Unemployment Rate: 2.4%
Population Below Poverty Line: 28.9% (2002 est.)
Industries: Food processing, garments, shoes, machine-building, mining, cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires oil, coal, steel, paper
Currency: Dong (VND)
Exchange Rates: Dong per US dollar - 15,855 (2005), 15,746 (2004), 15,510 (2003), 15,280 (2002), 14,725 (2001)
Illicit Drugs: Minor producer of opium poppy; probable minor transit point for Southeast Asian heroin; domestic opium/heroin/methamphetamine addiction problems
Population Growth Rate: 1.04%
Birth Rate: 17.07 births/1,000 population
Death Rate: 6.2 deaths/1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate:
- Total: 25.95 deaths / 1,000 live births
- Male: 26.35 deaths / 1,000 live births
- Female: 25.52 deaths / 1,000 live birth
Life Expectancy at Birth:
- Total population: 70.61 years
- Male: 67.82 years
- Female: 73.6 years
People living with HIV/AIDS: 220,000 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS Deaths: 9,000 (2003 est.)
Major Infections Diseases:
- Degree of risk: high
- Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
- Vectorborne 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
Nationality: Noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural)
Adjective: Vietnamese
Ethic 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)