President: Nguyen Minh Triet Secretary-general of the Communist Party : Nguyen Phu Trong
Population
1,608,321
91,519,289
Life Expectancy
52.290 years
72.410 years
Capital City
Libreville
Hanoi
Largest city
Libreville (population: 578,156)
Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh (population: 3,467,330)
Human Development Index
0.729
0.718
GDP per capita
$16,400 US
$3,400 US
Literacy Rate
63.2%
90.3%
Corruption Perception Index
3.1
2.7
Percentage of Women in Parliament
16.1%
25.8%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
21.000%
2.300%
Death Penalty
Abolished in practice
Legal
Political System
republic; multiparty presidential regime
Communist state
Independence date
17 August 1960 (from France)
2 September 1945 (from France)
Religions
Christian 55%-75%, animist, Muslim less than 1%
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
French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)