Travelog - A travel guide to Vietnam

I) General information:

• Full country name: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV)
• Short name: Vietnam
• Date code: VN
• Capital: Hanoi
• Flag: The flag of Vietnam consist of a yellow star in the middle of a red field.
• National day: 02 September

(On the September 2, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh read the Independence Manifesto declaring the establishment of The Democratic Republic of Vietnam now known as The Socialist Republic of Vietnam)

• Liberation day: 30 April
• Law system: being dependent on the communist legal theory and French civilized legal system
• Voting age: 18 years old
• Population: 77,311,210 (July 1999 est.)
• Mainland territory: 330,991 sq. kilometers; Divided into 59 provinces and 4 independent municipalities such as: An Giang, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Bac Lieu, Bac Can, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Binh Dinh, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Binh Thuan, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Cao Bang, Can Tho, Da Nang City, Dak Lak, Dac Nong,Dong Thap, Dong Nai, Gia Lai, Ha Giang, Ha Nam, Capital Hanoi, Ha Tay, Ha Tinh, Hai Duong, Hai Phong city, Hoa Binh, Hung Yen, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Kon Tum, Lam Dong, Lang Son, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Long An, Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Ninh Thuan, Phu Tho, Phu Yen, Quang Ninh, Quang Ngai, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Son La, Soc Trang, Tay Ninh, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien Hue, Tien Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Tra Vinh, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Long, Vinh Phuc, Yen Bai.

• Public holidays:

• 01st January New Year’s day
• Tet holidays 01st to 03rd days of the first moon (late January to mid-February)
• Vietnames Lunar New Year
• 30th April Liberation day
• 01st May International labor days
• 02nd September National day

II) Geography and climate:

Vietnam stretches over 1,600km along the eastern coast of the Indochina Peninsula. Vietnam has 3451km of coastline, and land borders of 2130km with Laos, 1281km with China and 1228km with Cambodia. The country is S-Shaped, broad in the north and south and very narrow in the center. Vietnam has two climate regions. The north cold and wet between November and March, hot in May and June. The south is constantly warm, but hot in April and May. The rainy season last from June to October.

• Location:

Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia with the Geographic coordinates: 16 00 N, 106 00 E Map references: Southeast Asia.

• Area:

total: 329,560 sq km, land: 325,360 sq km, water: 4,200 sq km

• Area—comparative:

slightly larger than New Mexico

• Land boundaries:

total: 4,639 km, border countries: Cambodia 1,228 km, China 1,281 km, Laos 2,130 km Coastline: 3,444 km (excludes islands)

• Maritime claims:

contiguous zone: 24 nm, continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin, exclusive economic zone: 200 nm, territorial sea: 12 nm

• Climate:

tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (mid-May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-October to mid-March)

• Terrain:

low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest

• Elevation extremes:

lowest point: South China Sea 0 m, highest point: Ngoc Linh 3,143 m

• Natural resources:

phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests

• Land use:

arable land: 17%, permanent crops: 4%, permanent pastures: 1% forests and woodland: 30% other: 48% (1993 est.)

• Irrigated land:

18,600 sq km (1993 est.)

• Natural hazards:

occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding

• Environment—current issues:

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

• Environment—international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban

III) Religion:
Buddhism and Catholicism are popular in Vietnam. In the south, there is a special religion named Caodainism a mixture of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism and worship of genie. Majority of Vietnamese have no regions but worship their ancestors.

IV) Currency:
Dong is Vietnam’s official currency (15,700 VND = 1USD)
US dollars are widely accepted.

V) Language:
The transcribed version of the Vietnamese script using the Roman alphabet with a system of tones and accents, it has now taken over from Vietnam characters. Vietnamese (official), Vietnam, English, French, Khmer, tribal languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)

VI) People

• Population:

77,311,210 (July 1999 est.)

• Age structure:

0-14 years: 34% (male 13,377,315; female 12,603,906)
15-64 years: 61% (male 22,934,553; female 24,277,488)
65 years and over: 5% (male 1,645,288; female 2,472,660) (1999 est.)

• Population growth rate:

1.37% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 20.78 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 6.56 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.53 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

• Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female
total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 34.84 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

• Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 68.1 years
male: 65.71 years
female: 70.64 years (1999 est.)
Total fertility rate: 2.41 children born/woman (1999 est.)

• Nationality:

noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural)
adjective: Vietnamese
Ethnic groups: 54 ethnic groups in total. Vietnamese 85%-90%, Vietnam 3%, Muong, Tai, Meo, Khmer, Man, Cham

• Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 93.7%
male: 96.5%
female: 91.2% (1995 est.)