Chairman of the General National Congress: Mohamed Magarief
President: Nguyen Minh Triet Secretary-general of the Communist Party : Nguyen Phu Trong
Population
5,613,380
91,519,289
Life Expectancy
77.830 years
72.410 years
Capital City
Tripoli (Tarabulus)
Hanoi
Largest city
Tripoli (population: 1,150,990)
Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh (population: 3,467,330)
Human Development Index
0.84
0.718
GDP per capita
$14,100 US
$3,400 US
Literacy Rate
82.6%
90.3%
Corruption Perception Index
2.6
2.7
Percentage of Women in Parliament
7.7%
25.8%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
30.000%
2.300%
Death Penalty
Legal
Legal
Political System
Jamahiriya (a state of the masses) in theory, governed by the populace through local councils; in practice, an authoritarian state
Communist state
Independence date
24 December 1951 (from UN trusteeship)
2 September 1945 (from France)
Religions
Sunni Muslim 97%, other 3%
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
Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)