President: Nguyen Minh Triet Secretary-general of the Communist Party : Nguyen Phu Trong
President: Pierre Nkurunziza
Population
91,519,289
10,557,259
Life Expectancy
72.410 years
59.240 years
Capital City
Hanoi
Largest city
Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh (population: 3,467,330)
Bujumbura (population: 331,700)
Human Development Index
0.718
0.382
GDP per capita
$3,400 US
Literacy Rate
90.3%
59.3%
Corruption Perception Index
2.7
1.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
25.8%
31.7%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
2.300%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
Communist state
republic
Independence date
2 September 1945 (from France)
Religions
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)
Christian 67% (Roman Catholic 62%, Protestant 5%), indigenous beliefs 23%, Muslim 10%
Languages
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area)
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
1
0
Location
Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia
Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo
Area
331,210 km sq
27,830 km sq
Coastline
3,444 km
0 km
Climate
tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (May to September) and warm, dry season (October to March)
equatorial; high plateau with considerable altitude variation (772 m to 2,670 m above sea level); average annual temperature varies with altitude from 23 to 17 degrees centigrade but is generally moderate as the average altitude is about 1,700 m; average annual rainfall is about 150 cm; two wet seasons (February to May and September to November), and two dry seasons (June to August and December to January)
