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(opens in new window) The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed by 1884.
It became part of French Indochina in 1887. Vietnam declared independence
after World War II, but France continued to rule until its 1954 defeat by
Communist forces under Ho Chi MINH. Under the Geneva Accords of 1954,
Vietnam was divided into the Communist North and anti-Communist South. US
economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an
attempt to bolster the government, but US armed forces were withdrawn
following a cease-fire agreement in 1973. Two years later, North Vietnamese
forces overran the South reuniting the country under Communist rule.
Despite the return of peace, for over a decade the country experienced
little economic growth because of conservative leadership policies.
However, since the enactment of Vietnam's "doi moi" (renovation) policy in
1986, Vietnamese authorities have committed to increased economic
liberalization and enacted structural reforms needed to modernize the
economy and to produce more competitive, export-driven industries. The
country continues to experience protests from various groups - such as the
Protestant Montagnard ethnic minority population of the Central Highlands
and the Hoa Hao Buddhists in southern Vietnam over religious persecution.
Montagnard grievances also include the loss of land to Vietnamese settlers.
Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and
South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia 16 00 N, 106 00 E
total: 329,560 sq km slightly larger than New Mexico
total: 4,639 km 3,444 km (excludes islands)
territorial sea: 12 nm tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (May to
September) and warm, dry season (October to March) low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous
in far north and northwest lowest point: South China Sea 0 m phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas
deposits, forests, hydropower
arable land: 20.14% 30,000 sq km (2003)
occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding, especially in
the Mekong River delta
logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices contribute to
deforestation and soil degradation; water pollution and overfishing
threaten marine life populations; groundwater contamination limits potable
water supply; growing urban industrialization and population migration are
rapidly degrading environment in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City extending 1,650 km north to south, the country is only 50 km across at its
narrowest point
84,402,966 (July 2006 est.)
0-14 years: 27% (male 11,826,457/female 10,983,069) total: 25.9 years 1.02% (2006 est.)
16.86 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
6.22 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
-0.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female total: 25.14 deaths/1,000 live births total population: 70.85 years 1.91 children born/woman (2006 est.)
0.4% (2003 est.) 220,000 (2003 est.) 9,000 (2003 est.) degree of risk: high noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural) Kinh (Viet) 86.2%, Tay 1.9%, Thai 1.7%, Muong 1.5%, Khome 1.4%, Hoa 1.1%,
Nun 1.1%, Hmong 1%, others 4.1% (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) Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language),
some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and
Malayo-Polynesian)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write conventional long form: Socialist Republic of Vietnam Communist state
Hanoi 59 provinces (tinh, singular and plural) and 5 municipalities (thu do,
singular and plural) 2 September 1945 (from France)
Independence Day, 2 September (1945)
15 April 1992
based on communist legal theory and French civil law system
18 years of age; universal
unicameral National Assembly or Quoc-Hoi (498 seats; members elected by
popular vote to serve five-year terms) Supreme People's Court (chief justice is elected for a five-year term by
the National Assembly on the recommendation of the president) Vietnam is a densely-populated, developing country that in the last 30
years has had to recover from the ravages of war, the loss of financial
support from the old Soviet Bloc, and the rigidities of a centrally-planned
economy. Substantial progress was achieved from 1986 to 1997 in moving
forward from an extremely low level of development and significantly
reducing poverty. Growth averaged around 9% per year from 1993 to 1997. The
1997 Asian financial crisis highlighted the problems in the Vietnamese
economy and temporarily allowed opponents of reform to slow progress toward
a market-oriented economy. GDP growth averaged 6.8% per year from 1997 to
2004 even against the background of the Asian financial crisis and a global
recession, and growth hit 8% in 2005. Since 2001, however, Vietnamese
authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to economic liberalization and
international integration. They have moved to implement the structural
reforms needed to modernize the economy and to produce more competitive,
export-driven industries. Vietnam's membership in the ASEAN Free Trade Area
(AFTA) and entry into force of the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement in
December 2001 have led to even more rapid changes in Vietnam's trade and
economic regime. Vietnam's exports to the US doubled in 2002 and again in
2003. Vietnam hopes to become a member of the WTO in 2006. Among other
benefits, accession would allow Vietnam to take advantage of the phase out
of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, which eliminated quotas on
textiles and clothing for WTO partners on 1 January 2005. Vietnam is
working to promote job creation to keep up with the country's high
population growth rate. However, high levels of inflation have prompted
Vietnamese authorities to tighten monetary and fiscal policies. $253.2 billion (2005 est.)
$44.66 billion (2005 est.)
8.4% (2005 est.) $3,000 (2005 est.) agriculture: 20.9% 44.39 million (2005 est.)
agriculture: 56.8% 5.5% (2005 est.) 19.5% (2004 est.)
lowest 10%: 3.6% 36.1 (1998)
8.4% (2005 est.) 38.7% of GDP (2005 est.)
revenues: $11.64 billion 75.5% of GDP (2005 est.)
paddy rice, coffee, rubber, cotton, tea, pepper, soybeans, cashews, sugar
cane, peanuts, bananas; poultry; fish, seafood food processing, garments, shoes, machine-building; mining, coal, steel;
cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, paper 17.2% (2005 est.) 46.2 billion kWh (2004)
52 billion kWh (2004)
400,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
216,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)
600 million bbl (2005 est.)
6.342 billion cu m (2005 est.)
6.342 billion cu m (2005 est.)
192.6 billion cu m (2005)
-$1.695 billion (2005 est.)
$32.23 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
crude oil, marine products, rice, coffee, rubber, tea, garments, shoes
US 20.1%, Japan 13.6%, China 9%, Australia 7%, Germany 5.9%, Singapore
4.8%, UK 4.6% (2004)
$36.88 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertilizer, steel products,
raw cotton, grain, cement, motorcycles China 13.7%, Taiwan 11.3%, South Korea 10.8%, Japan 10.5%, Singapore 10.5%,
Thailand 6.2%, Hong Kong 4% (2004) $7.503 billion (2005 est.)
$19.17 billion (2005 est.)
$2.8 billion in credits and grants pledged by international donors for 2000
(2004) dong (VND) calendar year
10,124,900 (2004) 4.96 million (2004) general assessment: Vietnam is putting considerable effort into
modernization and expansion of its telecommunication system, but its
performance continues to lag behind that of its more modern neighbors AM 65, FM 7, shortwave 29 (1999)
6 (plus 61 provincial TV stations) (2006)
.vn 3,611 (2005) 5.87 million (2005)
28 (2005) total: 23 total: 5 condensate/gas 432 km; gas 210 km; oil 3 km; refined products 206 km (2004)
total: 2,600 km total: 215,628 km (2000)
17,702 km (5,000 km navigable by vessels up to 1.8 m draft) (2005)
total: 235 ships (1000 GRT or over) 1,290,526 GRT/1,961,403 DWT Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City
People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN): Ground Forces, People's Navy Command
(including Naval Infantry), Air and Air Defense Force, Coast Guard southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to check the
spread of avian flu; Cambodia and Laos protest Vietnamese squatters and
armed encroachments along border; after years of Cambodia claiming Vietnam
had moved or destroyed boundary markers, in 2005, after much domestic
debate, Cambodia ratified an agreement with Vietnam that settled all but a
small portion of the land boundary; establishment of a maritime boundary
with Cambodia is hampered by unresolved dispute over offshore islands; in
2004, Laotian-Vietnamese boundary commission agrees to erect missing
markers in two adjoining provinces; demarcation of the China-Vietnam
boundary proceeds slowly and although the maritime boundary delimitation
and fisheries agreements were ratified in June 2004, implementation has
been delayed; China occupies Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and
Taiwan; involved in complex dispute with China, Malaysia, Philippines,
Taiwan, and possibly Brunei over the Spratly Islands; the 2002 "Declaration
on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions but
falls short of a legally binding "code of conduct" desired by several of
the disputants; Vietnam continues to expand construction of facilities in
the Spratly Islands; in March 2005, the national oil companies of China,
the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord to conduct marine
seismic activities in the Spratly Islands minor producer of opium poppy; probable minor transit point for Southeast
Asian heroin; government continues to face domestic
opium/heroin/methamphetamine addiction problems despite longstanding
crackdowns |
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