LAND[edit]

329,707 km²; 14% cultivated, 50% forested, 36% urban inland water, and other

Land boundaries: 4,562 km

WATER[edit]

Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 12 nm plus 12 nm contiguous customs and security zone (fishing 200 nm, economic 200 nm)

Coastline: 3,444 km (excluding islands)

PEOPLE[edit]

Population: 56,430,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.5%

Nationality: noun—Vietnamese (sing. and pl.); adjective—Vietnamese

Ethnic divisions: 85%-90% predominantly Vietnamese; 3% Chinese; ethnic minorities include Muong, Thai, Meo, Khmer, Man, Cham, and mountain tribesmen

Religion: Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Catholic, Animist, Islamic, and Protestant

Language: Vietnamese, French, Chinese, English, Khmer, tribal languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)

Labor force: approximately 15 million, not including military; about 70% agriculture and 8% industry

GOVERNMENT[edit]

Official name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Type: Communist state

Capital: Hanoi

Political subdivisions: 39 provinces

Legal system: based on Communist legal theory and French civil law system

National holiday: 2 September

Branches: constitution provides for a National Assembly and highly centralized executive nominally subordinate to it Party and government leaders: LE DUAN, Party Secretary General; NGUYEN HUU THO, Chairman, National Assembly; TRUONG CHINH, Chairman, Council of State; PHAM VAN DONG, Chairman, Council of Ministers; Gen. VAN TIEN DUNG, Minister of National Defense; NGUYEN CO THACH, Minister for Foreign Affairs; PHAM HUNG, Minister of Interior

Suffrage: over age 18

Elections: pro forma elections held for national and local assemblies; latest election for National Assembly held on 25 April 1976

Political parties: Vietnam Communist Party, formerly known as the Vietnam Workers Party

Communists: probably more than 1 million

Member of: ADB, CEMA, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, ITU, Mekong Committee, NAM, UN, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

ECONOMY[edit]

GNP: $4.9 billion (calculated by UNO method), less than $91 per capita (1980); no growth in recent years

Agriculture: main crops—rice, rubber, fruits and vegetables; some corn, manioc, and sugarcane; major food imports—wheat, corn, dairy products

Fishing: catch 515,000 metric tons (1980)

Major industries: food processing, textiles, machine building, mining, cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires

Shortages: foodgrains, petroleum, capital goods and machinery, fertilizer

Electric power: 1,610,300 kW capacity (1980); 3.781 billion kWh produced (1980), 69 kWh per capita

Exports: $300 million (1978); agricultural and handicraft products, coal, minerals, ores

Imports: $900 million (1978); petroleum, steel products, railroad equipment, chemicals, medicines, raw cotton, fertilizer, grain

Major trade partners: exports—USSR, East European countries, Japan, other Asian markets; imports—USSR, East Europe, Japan

Aid: accurate data on aid since April 1975 unification unavailable; estimated annual economic aid on annual basis is—USSR, $500 million or more; East European countries, $150 million; non-Communist countries, $230 million; inter-national institutions, $75 million; value of military aid deliveries since 1975 are not available

Monetary conversion rate (official): 9.0 dong=US$1 (late 1981)

Fiscal year: calendar year

COMMUNICATIONS[edit]

Railroads: 2,587 km total; 2,227 meter gauge, 130 km standard gauge, 230 km dual gauge

​Highways: 41,190 km total; 5,471 km bituminous, 27,030 km gravel or improved earth, 8,690 km unimproved earth

Inland waterways: about 17,702 km navigable; more than 5,149 km navigable at all times by vessels up to 1.8-m draft

Ports: 9 major, 23 minor

Civil air: military controlled

Airfields: 242 total, 128 usable; 55 with permanent-surface runways; 8 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 17 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

DEFENSE FORCES[edit]

Military manpower: males 15-49, 13,266,000; 8,085,000 fit for military service; 661,000 reach military age (17) annually

Supply: dependent on the USSR and Eastern European Communist countries for virtually all new, equipment; produces negligible quantities of infantry weapons, ammunition and explosive devices (Vietnam possesses a huge inventory of US-manufactured weapons and equipment captured from the RVN)

Military budget: no expenditure estimates are available; military aid from the USSR has been so extensive that actual allocation of Vietnam's domestic resources to defense has not been indicative of total military effort