Country Profile

VIETNAM FACTS AT A GLANCE

› Full Country Name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
› Area: 329,566 square kilometres
› Location: South East Asia, with China on the northern border, Laos and Cambodia on the western border, The South China Sea on the east and the Gulf of Thailand on the south.
› Population: 87.84 million (growth rate 2.3%)
› Capital city: Hanoi (population 6.5 million)
› People: 85% ethnic Vietnamese, 3% ethnic Chinese, also Khmers, Chams (a remnant of the once-great Indianised Champa Kingdom) and members of some 54 ethno linguistic groups (also known as Montagnards, 'highlanders' in French)
› Language: Vietnamese, English, French, Chinese, Russian and a variety of Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian local dialects
› Religion: Buddhism is the principal religion but there are also sizeable Taoist, Confucian, Hoa Hao, Caodaists, Muslim and Christian minorities
› Government: Communist People's Republic
› President: Truong Tan Sang
› Prime Minister: Nguyen Tan Dung
› Gross Domestic Product: US$ 299.2 billion
› World GDP ranking: 56th
› GDP per capita: US$1328.6
› Annual growth: 5.8%
› Inflation: 13.89%
› Major products/industries: Rice, rubber, food processing, textiles, chemicals
› Major trading partners: America, Europe, China, Japan, France, Korea, Taiwan