President: Nguyen Minh Triet Secretary-general of the Communist Party : Nguyen Phu Trong
Population
256,155
91,519,289
Life Expectancy
65.060 years
72.410 years
Capital City
Hanoi
Largest city
Port-Vila (population: 35,901)
Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh (population: 3,467,330)
Human Development Index
0.686
0.718
GDP per capita
$3,400 US
Literacy Rate
74%
90.3%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
2.7
Percentage of Women in Parliament
3.8%
25.8%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
2.300%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Legal
Political System
parliamentary republic
Communist state
Independence date
2 September 1945 (from France)
Religions
Presbyterian 31.4%, Anglican 13.4%, Roman Catholic 13.1%, Seventh-Day Adventist 10.8%, other Christian 13.8%, indigenous beliefs 5.6% (including Jon Frum cargo cult), other 9.6%, none 1%, unspecified 1.3% (1999 Census)
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
local languages (more than 100) 72.6%, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama) 23.1%, English 1.9%, French 1.4%, other 0.3%, unspecified 0.7% (1999 Census)
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
dong (VND) per US dollar - 16,548.3 (2008 est.), 16,119 (2007), 15,983 (2006), 15,746 (2005), NA (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.500%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0
1
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia
Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia
Area
12,189 km sq
331,210 km sq
Coastline
2,528 km
3,444 km
Climate
tropical; moderated by southeast trade winds from May to October; moderate rainfall from November to April; may be affected by cyclones from December to April
tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (May to September) and warm, dry season (October to March)
