President: Nguyen Minh Triet Secretary-general of the Communist Party : Nguyen Phu Trong
President: Traian Basescu
Population
91,519,289
21,848,504
Life Expectancy
72.410 years
74.220 years
Capital City
Hanoi
Bucharest
Largest city
Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh (population: 3,467,330)
Bucharest (population: 1,877,160)
Human Development Index
0.718
0.825
GDP per capita
$3,400 US
$12,600 US
Literacy Rate
90.3%
97.3%
Corruption Perception Index
2.7
3.8
Percentage of Women in Parliament
25.8%
9.6%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Dinu Patriciu ($1.8bn US)
Unemployment Rate
2.300%
5.100%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
Communist state
republic
Independence date
2 September 1945 (from France)
9 May 1877 (independence proclaimed from the Ottoman Empire; independence recognized 13 July 1878 by the Treaty of Berlin); 26 March 1881 (kingdom proclaimed); 30 December 1947 (republic proclaimed)
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)
Eastern Orthodox (including all sub-denominations) 86.8%, Protestant (various denominations including Reformate and Pentecostal) 7.5%, Roman Catholic 4.7%, other (mostly Muslim) and unspecified 0.9%, none 0.1% (2002 census)
Languages
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
Romanian 91% (official), Hungarian 6.7%, Romany (Gypsy) 1.1%, other 1.2%
machinery and equipment, textiles and footwear, metals and metal products, machinery and equipment, minerals and fuels, chemicals, agricultural products
External Debt
$39,730,000,000 $
$136,100,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
dong (VND) per US dollar - 16,548.3 (2008 est.), 16,119 (2007), 15,983 (2006), 15,746 (2005), NA (2004)
lei (RON) per US dollar - 2.5 (2008 est.), 2.43 (2007), 2.809 (2006), 3 (2005), 3 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.500%
1.900%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
1
8
Location
Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia
Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Ukraine
Area
331,210 km sq
238,391 km sq
Coastline
3,444 km
225 km
Climate
tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (May to September) and warm, dry season (October to March)
temperate; cold, cloudy winters with frequent snow and fog; sunny summers with frequent showers and thunderstorms
