Vietnam 
Facts
Population:
79,939,014 (July 2001 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
32.13% (male 13,266,585; female 12,415,384)
15-64 years:
62.44% (male 24,357,343; female 25,556,187)
65 years and over:
5.43% (male 1,722,094; female 2,621,421) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.45% (2001 est.)
Birth rate:
21.23 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate:
6.22 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate:
-0.49 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth:
1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.07 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
0.66 male(s)/female
total population:
0.97 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
30.24 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
69.56 years
male:
67.12 years
female:
72.19 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.49 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.24% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
100,000 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
2,500 (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Vietnamese (singular and plural)
adjective:
Vietnamese
Ethnic groups:
Vietnamese 85%-90%, Chinese, Hmong, Thai, Khmer, Cham, mountain groups
Religions:
Buddhist, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, Christian (predominantly Roman Catholic, some Protestant), indigenous beliefs, Muslim
Languages:
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population:
93.7%
male:
96.5%
female:
91.2% (1995 est.)
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $154.4 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
5.5% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,950 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture:
25%
industry:
35%
services:
40% (1999 est.)
Population below poverty line:
37% (1998 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%:
3.5%
highest 10%:
29% (1993)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
-0.6% (2000 est.)
Labor force:
38.2 million (1998 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 67%, industry and services 33% (1997 est.)
Unemployment rate:
25% (1995 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$5.3 billion
expenditures:
$5.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.8 billion (1999 est.)
Industries:
food processing, garments, shoes, machine building, mining, cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, coal, steel, paper
Industrial production growth rate:
10.7% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production:
22.985 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel:
47.71%
hydro:
52.29%
nuclear:
0%
other:
0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption:
21.376 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products:
paddy rice, corn, potatoes, rubber, soybeans, coffee, tea, bananas, sugar; poultry, pigs; fish
Exports:
$14.3 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities:
crude oil, marine products, rice, coffee, rubber, tea, garments, shoes
Exports - partners:
China, Japan, Germany, Australia, US, France, Singapore, UK, Taiwan
Imports:
$15.2 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertilizer, steel products, raw cotton, grain, cement, motorcycles
Imports - partners:
Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, France, US, Sweden
Debt - external:
$13.2 billion (2000)
Economic aid - recipient:
$2.1 billion in credits and grants pledged by international donors for 2000
Currency:
dong (VND)
Currency code:
VND
Exchange rates:
dong per US dollar - 14,530 (January 2001), 14,020 (January 2000), 13,900 (December 1998), 11,100 (December 1996), 11,193 (1995 average), 11,000 (October 1994)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Statistics: CIA World Factbook.
Press
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Displaying 1 to 7 of 9 items.
(government-controlled weekley), Hanoi
http://www.vir.com.vn/Client/dautu/default.as...
(Daily news), Hanoi
http://www.laodong.com.vn/
Le Vietnam Nouveau
(Independent), Ho Chi Minh City
(Communist Party-controlled), Hanoi
http://www.nhandan.org.vn/
Quan Doi Nhan Dan
(Army-controlled), Hanoi
Tap Chi Cong San
(Government monthly), Hanoi
Vietnam Courier
(English-language Communist weekly), Hanoi
Vietnam in the News
A film that has shaken audiences with its potent combination of sex, drugs, and HIV/AIDS, set against a stark portrayal of the lives of young prostitutes, is just as effectively forcing Vietnam’s film industry to take a long, hard look at itself.
Vietnamese journalist and pro-democracy advocate Nguyen Vu Binh has disappeared following the publication of an essay critical of the Vietnamese government's settlement of a border dispute with China. Associate editor Rachel S. Taylor reports.
An improvement in the price of coffee beans is giving hope to Vietnamese farmers who have suffered steady losses over the last five years despite consecutive bumper crops.
The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan is no Vietnam, yet there are real parallels: a terrain that favors the foes, a porous border impossible to police, and dependence on local forces whose reliability is far from certain.
Americas 
