| Capital |
|
Hanoi
|
| |
| Population |
|
83,535,576 (July 2005 est.)
|
| |
| Languages |
|
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
|
| |
| Independence |
|
2 September 1945 (from France)
|
|
|
| Location |
| Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia |
| |
| Area |
| total: 329,560 sq km ;
land: 325,360 sq km ;
water: 4,200 sq km ; |
| |
| Land boundaries |
total: 4,639 km
border countries: Cambodia 1,228 km, China 1,281 km, Laos 2,130 km
|
| |
| 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)
|
| |
| Natural resources |
|
phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests, hydropower
|
| |
| Government type |
|
Communist state
|
| |
| Currency - Currency code |
Dong (VND)
|
| |
| Internet country code: |
|
.vn
|
| |
| Internet users: |
|
3.5 million (2003)
|
|
Place Finder