President: Nguyen Minh Triet Secretary-general of the Communist Party : Nguyen Phu Trong
President: Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino
Population
91,519,289
103,775,002
Life Expectancy
72.410 years
71.940 years
Capital City
Hanoi
Manila
Largest city
Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh (population: 3,467,330)
Manila (population: 10,444,500)
Human Development Index
0.718
0.745
GDP per capita
$3,400 US
$4,100 US
Literacy Rate
90.3%
92.6%
Corruption Perception Index
2.7
2.3
Percentage of Women in Parliament
25.8%
20.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Henry Sy & family ($2.7bn US)
Unemployment Rate
2.300%
7.000%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
Communist state
republic
Independence date
2 September 1945 (from France)
12 June 1898 (independence proclaimed from Spain); 4 July 1946 (from the US)
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)
Roman Catholic 80.9%, Muslim 5%, Evangelical 2.8%, Iglesia ni Kristo 2.3%, Aglipayan 2%, other Christian 4.5%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.6%, none 0.1% (2000 census)
Languages
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
Filipino (official; based on Tagalog) and English (official); eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinan
