President: Nguyen Minh Triet Secretary-general of the Communist Party : Nguyen Phu Trong
President: Faure Gnassingbe Eyadema
Population
91,519,289
6,961,049
Life Expectancy
72.410 years
63.170 years
Capital City
Hanoi
Largest city
Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh (population: 3,467,330)
Lome (population: 749,700)
Human Development Index
0.718
0.479
GDP per capita
$3,400 US
Literacy Rate
90.3%
60.9%
Corruption Perception Index
2.7
2.7
Percentage of Women in Parliament
25.8%
11.1%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
2.300%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished in practice
Political System
Communist state
republic under transition to multiparty democratic rule
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 29%, Muslim 20%, indigenous beliefs 51%
Languages
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north)
