Vietnam
Name
| Official name | The Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa Xã hội Chủ nghĩa Việt Nam) — the name of the reunified state of 2 July 1976; the constitution of 28 November 2013 (amended on 16 June 2025 for the two-level local government and the Fatherland Front's merger of the mass organizations); the motto 'Independence – Freedom – Happiness'; the UN's member (20 September 1977), ASEAN's (28 July 1995), the WTO's 150th (11 January 2007), APEC's (1998), the CPTPP's (2018–19), the RCEP's (2022), the BRICS partner (13 June 2025) |
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| Former names | Văn Lang (the Hùng kings' legendary kingdom), Âu Lạc (the 3rd century BCE), Giao Chỉ and Annam (the Chinese provinces of 111 BCE–938 CE), Đại Cồ Việt (968), Đại Việt (1054–1804), Việt Nam (1804 — the name granted by the Qing at Gia Long's request), Đại Nam (1839–1945); the French Indochina's Tonkin, Annam and Cochinchina (1862/1887–1945); the Empire of Vietnam (March–August 1945), the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945–1976; the North), the State of Vietnam (1949–1955), the Republic of Vietnam (1955–1975; the South) |
| Demonym | Vietnamese (người Việt Nam); the Kinh (the Việt — about 85% of the people) and the 53 recognized ethnic minorities; the 'Việt Kiều' (the overseas Vietnamese — about 5–6 million by the counts, both stated); the regional speech of the North (Hanoi), the Center (Huế) and the South (Saigon) |
| Meaning of the name | 'Việt Nam' — 'Việt of the south' (the Việt — the Yue peoples of southern China's ancient name — and nam, 'the south'), the 1804 name of Gia Long's request to the Qing (the 'Nam Việt' order reversed to avoid the old kingdom's name); 'Hà Nội' 'inside the rivers' (1831), 'Sài Gòn' of the disputed origin (the Khmer 'Prey Nokor' or the Chinese 'Tây Cống' — both stated); 'Mê Kông' from the Thai/Lao 'Mae Nam Khong' ('the mother of the waters'); 'Cửu Long' — the Mekong's 'nine dragons' of the delta |
| Motto | 'Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc' ('Independence – Freedom – Happiness') — the national motto on the state's documents under the national name (since 1945); Ho Chi Minh's 'Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom' (1966); the Party's slogans of the 'era of the nation's rise' (Kỷ nguyên vươn mình — To Lam's line of 2024 onward) and the 2045 high-income goal |
Quick facts
| Capital | Hanoi (Hà Nội) — the capital on the Red River (the Thăng Long of 1010; the capital of the North from 1945 and of the reunified state from 1976), about 8.7–8.8 million in the city by the 2025 estimates (both stated; the expansion of 2008 with Hà Tây); the Ba Đình Square (the 2 September 1945 independence declaration) and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (1975), the Hoàn Kiếm Lake and the Turtle Tower, the Old Quarter, the Temple of Literature (1070), the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long (UNESCO 2010), the Long Biên Bridge (1903; Gustave Eiffel's firm by the usual line, both stated), the Hanoi Opera House (1911), the metro's lines (the Cát Linh–Hà Đông of 6 November 2021 and the Nhổn–Hanoi Station of 2024) |
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| Largest cities | Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon; about 14 million after the merger of 1 July 2025 with Bình Dương and Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu by the counts; about 9.5 million before — both stated), Hanoi (about 8.7–8.8 million), Hải Phòng (the northern port; about 4 million after the 2025 merger with Hải Dương), Đà Nẵng (about 3 million after the merger with Quảng Nam — Hội An inside it), Cần Thơ (the Mekong delta's hub; about 4 million after the merger with Sóc Trăng and Hậu Giang), Huế (about 1.2 million; the city status of 2025), Đồng Nai (the city status of 30 April 2026 — by the reports), Biên Hòa, Nha Trang, Vinh, Buôn Ma Thuột, Quy Nhơn, Hạ Long, Vũng Tàu (the counts of the 2025 merged units, rounded) |
| Official language | Vietnamese (tiếng Việt) — the national language by the constitution (Article 5); an Austroasiatic language with six tones (the northern standard; the southern five), written in the Latin-based chữ Quốc ngữ (the 17th-century Portuguese and French missionaries' script — Alexandre de Rhodes's dictionary of 1651; official from 1918–1945) after the Chinese characters (chữ Hán) and the native chữ Nôm; the ethnic minorities' languages (the Tày, the Thái, the Mường, the Khmer, the Hmong, the Chăm — taught in some schools); English the main foreign language (the 2025 resolution to make it a second language in the schools by 2035 — by the reports), French, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Korean |
| Currency | Vietnamese dong (VND; ₫) — the State Bank of Vietnam's central rate VND 25,433 to the U.S. dollar on 6 August 2026 and the free-market rate about 26,095–26,110 (about 2.6% weaker — by the reports; both stated), the banks' trading band of ±5% around the central rate; about 290–300 dong to the Indian rupee; the dong's slide of about 3–4% a year in 2024–25 by the counts; the CPI's 4.52% average increase in January–September 2026 (the core 4.26%) and 5.08% in September on the year (the statistics office); the 500,000-dong note the largest (about US$19); the gold's and the dollar's role in the savings |
| Time zone | UTC+7 the year round (Indochina Time; no daylight saving — the same clock as Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Jakarta), 1 hour 30 minutes ahead of India (IST); the Gregorian calendar with the lunar calendar's festivals — the Tết Nguyên Đán (the Lunar New Year; the Year of the Horse from 17 February 2026), the Hùng Kings' Commemoration (the 10th day of the 3rd lunar month) |
| Calling code, internet and ISO codes | +84 (the operators Viettel — the military-owned, the largest — VNPT/VinaPhone and MobiFone; the 5G of October 2024 onward); internet .vn; the about 79–80 million internet users by the counts; the cybersecurity law of 2018 and the Decree 147 of 2024 (the social media accounts' phone verification — the 'security' line and the 'censorship' line both stated, LAW 2); ISO 3166 VN, VNM, 704; the vehicle code VN; the IOC code VIE, FIFA code VIE; the aircraft registration VN-; the plugs of Types A, C and F at 220 V and 50 Hz |
| Area | About 331,345 km² (127,934 sq mi) by the usual count — about 331,212 km² by another (both stated) — the 65th of the world, about 10% of India's area; the land borders with China (about 1,281 km; the 1999 land border treaty and the 2009 demarcation), Laos (about 2,130–2,340 km by the counts, both stated) and Cambodia (about 1,137–1,228 km, both stated); the coast about 3,260 km on the Gulf of Tonkin, the South China Sea (the East Sea) and the Gulf of Thailand; the Paracel (Hoàng Sa — held by China since 1974) and the Spratly (Trường Sa — Vietnam holds about 21–29 features by the counts) claims (both the Vietnamese and the Chinese, the Philippine, the Malaysian and the Taiwanese claims stated, LAW 2) |
| Population | 102.3 million average population in 2025 by the National Statistics Office (about 1% growth on 2024; 101.3 million in 2024 by its count — both stated); the census of 1 April 2019 — 96,208,984; the mid-term survey of 2024; the 100-million mark passed in April 2023 by the office's line; the working-age (15–59) population 62.7% (the 'golden population structure' to the late 2030s), the sex ratio at birth 110 boys to 100 girls (2025); the regions — the Red River delta and the Southeast the most populous; the largest units after the 2025 mergers — Ho Chi Minh City (about 14 million), Hanoi (about 8.7–8.8 million), Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa, Đồng Nai, An Giang |
| Density | About 308–310 people per km² — among Asia's denser states; the Red River delta's crowding (Hanoi about 2,600 per km², the delta provinces of about 1,000–1,500), the Mekong delta's (about 400–700), Ho Chi Minh City's about 2,000 after the merger (about 4,500 before — both stated), against the Central Highlands (about 110) and the northern mountains (the Lai Châu, the Điện Biên of about 50–70) |
| Religion | The 'folk religion' and the non-religious about 73–86% by the surveys (the ancestor veneration in most homes; the Mother Goddess worship — the Đạo Mẫu of UNESCO's list of 2016; the Hùng Kings' worship of UNESCO's list of 2012) — both the census's and the surveys' shares stated; the Buddhists about 7–15% (the Mahayana of the Kinh; the Theravada of the Khmer Krom), the Catholics about 6–7% (about 7 million — Asia's fifth-largest Catholic population by the usual line; the Pope's resident representative of 2023), the Protestants about 1–2% (the Central Highlands' minorities), the Cao Đài (1926; Tây Ninh), the Hòa Hảo (1939; the Mekong delta), the Muslims of the Chăm; the Government Committee for Religious Affairs and the Law on Belief and Religion (2016/2018) — the state's 'freedom of religion' line and the rights groups' 'restrictions' line both stated (LAW 2) |
| Government type | Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic under the constitution of 2013 (amended 2025) — the Communist Party of Vietnam the 'leading force of the state and the society' (Article 4); the 'four pillars' — the General Secretary, the State President, the Prime Minister and the National Assembly Chairman (the top two posts held by To Lam since 7 April 2026); the National Assembly of about 500 deputies (the 'highest organ of the state power'), the Government (the Cabinet), the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuracy; the Fatherland Front's umbrella; the two-level local government since 1 July 2025 (the 34 provinces and the cities; the districts abolished) — Freedom House's 'Not Free' (about 19–20 of 100) and the state's 'socialist rule-of-law state' line both stated (LAW 2) |
| Head of state | State President To Lam (Tô Lâm; since 7 April 2026; also the General Secretary since 3 August 2024) — born 10 July 1957 in Hưng Yên (Văn Giang); the police general of the Ministry of Public Security (the minister of 2016–2024 — the anti-corruption 'blazing furnace' campaign's enforcer with Nguyễn Phú Trọng), the State President of 22 May – 21 October 2024, the General Secretary from 3 August 2024 after Trọng's death; the 2025 'revolution' of the state's streamlining (the ministries and the ministerial agencies cut to 17 by the counts, the provinces merged from 63 to 34, the districts abolished — the 'efficiency' line and the critics' 'centralization' line both stated, LAW 2); reelected by the 14th Congress (23 January 2026); the state visits of 2026 — China (14–17 April), India (5–7 May), Thailand, Singapore; Canada's Prime Minister Carney's meeting (24 September 2026) |
| Head of government | Prime Minister Le Minh Hung (Lê Minh Hưng; since 7 April 2026 — the 9th Prime Minister of the reunified state by the official count; 495 of 495 votes) — born 11 December 1970 in Hà Tĩnh (the son of Lê Minh Hương, the Minister of Public Security of 1996–2002); the State Bank's Governor (2016–2020), the Party Central Office's chief (2020–2024), the Central Organization Commission's head (2024–2026); the Vice Chairman of the National Defense and Security Council (8 April 2026); the government of six deputy prime ministers (four new) and 17 ministers and ministerial-agency heads (nine new — by the reports); succeeding Phạm Minh Chính (2021–2026); the five priorities of his inauguration (the growth, the accountable administration and the others) |
| Legislature | The National Assembly (Quốc hội; unicameral; the 16th Assembly of 2026–2031) — elected on 15 March 2026 (about 500 seats by the law; the candidates vetted by the Fatherland Front — the Party members about 90–95% by the counts, a few self-nominated independents; the turnout above 99% by the official line — both the 'socialist democracy' and the critics' 'no competitive choice' readings stated, LAW 2); the first session from 6 April 2026 (the state's leaders elected); Chairman Tran Thanh Man (Trần Thanh Mẫn; reelected 2026; since 20 May 2024) and the vice chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Hồng (the former State Bank governor — by the reports); the Standing Committee; the laws of the 2025–26 streamlining and the AI law (in force 1 March 2026) |
| National Day | 2 September — the National Day (Quốc khánh; Ho Chi Minh's Declaration of Independence at the Ba Đình Square in 1945; the 80th of 2025 — the grand parade; the 81st of 2026; the holiday of 1–2 September); 30 April — the Reunification Day (the Fall of Saigon of 1975; the 50th of 2025's parade) with 1 May (the Labor Day); the Tết holidays (about 7–9 days around the Lunar New Year), the Hùng Kings' Commemoration (the 10th day of the 3rd lunar month), 1 January; Ho Chi Minh's birthday (19 May; not a holiday) |
| Driving side and HDI | Right (the roads of about 600,000–630,000 km by the counts; the North–South Expressway's about 3,000-plus km goal of 2025 reached in its main sections — by the reports; the motorbikes about 70–75 million by the registrations); Human Development Index about 0.73–0.77 by the 2024 and the 2025 reports (both stated), 'high', about 93rd–107th of 193 by the editions; the life expectancy about 74–75 years; the GDP a head about US$4,700–5,000 (2025 by the relays) |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | The flag of the red field with the five-pointed yellow star (Cờ đỏ sao vàng) — first raised in the Southern Uprising of 23 November 1940 (Nguyễn Hữu Tiến's design by the usual line, the authorship debated — both stated), the Viet Minh's flag and the Democratic Republic's from 5 September 1945, the reunified state's from 2 July 1976 (the star's rounded points of 1945 made straight in 1955); the red the revolution's blood and the success, the yellow star the Party's leadership and its five points the workers, the peasants, the intellectuals, the youth and the soldiers by the usual reading; the proportion 2:3Flag of Vietnam |
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| Coat of arms | The national emblem of 1955 (Bùi Trang Chước's design) — the round emblem with the yellow star on the red field (the flag's), the rice ears around it (the agriculture), the cogwheel below (the industry), the ribbon with 'Cộng hòa Xã hội Chủ nghĩa Việt Nam' (the name updated in 1976); on the state seals, the passports and the courts |
| National anthem | 'Tiến Quân Ca' ('The Song of the Marching Troops') — the words and the music by Văn Cao (1944), the anthem of the Democratic Republic from 1945 (the constitution of 1946) and of the reunified state from 1976; played at the state events and the Monday flag ceremonies (no lyrics quoted) |
| National motto | 'Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc' ('Independence – Freedom – Happiness') — the motto under the state's name on the official documents (since 1945); Ho Chi Minh's 'Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom' |
| National colors | Red and yellow — the flag's (the 'red flag with the yellow star'); the national teams' red shirts and the yellow (the 'Golden Star Warriors' of the football); the áo dài's white of the schoolgirls; the yellow of the old imperial court (the Nguyễn's); the yellow with the three red stripes of the former South Vietnamese flag of the diaspora's use (the 'heritage flag' — both the diaspora's and the state's positions stated, LAW 2) |
| National animal | None by law — the water buffalo (the farmer's symbol; the 2021 'Year of the Buffalo' stamps), the dragon (the people's legendary origin — 'the children of the dragon and the fairy', Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ), the Indochinese tiger (nearly extinct in the wild), the saola (the 'Asian unicorn' of the Annamite mountains — discovered in 1992), the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, the red-shanked douc langur ('the queen of the primates'), the Asian elephant of the Central Highlands (Buôn Đôn), the crane of the Tràm Chim, the Sarus crane |
| National flower and tree | The lotus (the hoa sen — the national flower by the popular vote and the culture ministry's line, not by the law — both stated; the purity's symbol), the bamboo (the village's hedge and the people's resilience), the peach blossom (the North's Tết) and the apricot blossom (the South's), the banyan of the village communal house (the đình); the rice — the national crop |
| National dish | None by law — the phở (the beef or the chicken noodle soup of Hanoi's and Nam Định's origin; the world's best-known Vietnamese dish by the usual line), the bánh mì (the baguette sandwich of Saigon — the Oxford dictionary's entry of 2011), the bún chả (Hanoi's grilled pork noodles — Obama's dinner of 2016), the gỏi cuốn (the spring rolls), the cơm tấm, the bánh chưng (the square sticky rice cake of the Tết), the nước mắm (the fish sauce of Phú Quốc and Phan Thiết), the cà phê sữa đá (the iced coffee — the egg coffee of Hanoi) |
| National sport | None by law — the football (the most popular; the national team 'the Golden Star Warriors' — the AFF/ASEAN Championship titles of 2008, 2018 and 2024 (the 2024 final's second leg won on 5 January 2025); the Asian Cup's quarter-finals of 2007 and 2019; the U-23 Asian Cup runners-up of 2018; the women's World Cup debut of 2023; the U-17's first FIFA U-17 World Cup qualification of May 2026 — by the reports), the Vovinam (the national martial art of 1938), the sepak takraw (đá cầu), the shuttlecock kicking, the badminton, the table tennis; the Olympic gold of Hoàng Xuân Vinh (the shooting; Rio 2016 — the first) |
| Heritage listings | Nine World Heritage properties by UNESCO's list of 2025 — the Complex of Huế Monuments (1993; the first), Hạ Long Bay (1994; natural — extended with the Cát Bà archipelago in 2023), the Hội An Ancient Town (1999), the Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary (1999; the Chăm temples), the Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng National Park (2003, extended 2015; natural — with Laos's Hin Nam No in 2025), the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long (2010), the Citadel of the Hồ Dynasty (2011), the Tràng An Landscape Complex (2014; mixed), the Yên Tử–Vĩnh Nghiêm–Côn Sơn, Kiếp Bạc complex (2025); the intangible — the Nhã nhạc court music (2003/2008), the gong culture of the Central Highlands (2005), the quan họ (2009), the ca trù (2009; urgent), the Gióng festival (2010), the xoan singing (2011), the Hùng Kings' worship (2012), the đờn ca tài tử (2013), the ví and giặm (2014), the tug of war (2015), the Mother Goddess worship (2016), the bài chòi (2017), the Then (2019), the xòe of the Thái (2021), the Chăm pottery (2022; urgent) |
| Symbol status | The flag, the emblem, the anthem and the capital by the constitution of 2013 (Article 13 — the red flag with the yellow star, the emblem, 'Tiến Quân Ca', Hanoi); the National Day by the labor code's holidays; no national animal, flower, dish or sport by law — the buffalo, the lotus, the phở and the football by custom; the symbols' insult an offense by the penal code |
Geography
| Location | The eastern edge of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia between about 8°34′ and 23°23′ N and 102°09′ and 109°28′ E — an S-shaped land on the South China Sea (the East Sea — both names stated), the Gulf of Tonkin and the Gulf of Thailand; China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west; about 1,650 km long and about 50 km wide at the narrowest (Quảng Bình's Đồng Hới); Hanoi about 2,600 km east of New Delhi by air |
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| Regions | 34 province-level units since 1 July 2025 (28 provinces and 6 centrally governed cities — Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng, Cần Thơ, Huế — with Đồng Nai's city status of 30 April 2026 by the reports; both counts stated); the six socio-economic regions — the Northern Midlands and Mountains, the Red River Delta, the North Central and the Central Coast, the Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên), the Southeast, the Mekong River Delta; the three traditional parts — the North (Bắc Bộ), the Center (Trung Bộ) and the South (Nam Bộ) |
| Highest point | Fansipan (Phan Xi Păng) — about 3,143 m (3,147.3 m by the 2008 survey — both stated), the Hoàng Liên Sơn range above Sa Pa (Lào Cai), the 'roof of Indochina'; the cable car of 2016 (about 6.3 km; the Guinness records' longest non-stop three-rope cable car and the largest elevation difference at its opening); Pu Si Lung (about 3,076 m), Pu Ta Leng (about 3,049 m), the Ngọc Linh of the Central Highlands (about 2,598 m) the other heights |
| Lowest point | The South China Sea (the East Sea) at sea level (0 m) — the Mekong delta (about 40,000 km²; most of it below about 2 m above sea level — the sinking land of about 1–3 cm a year by the subsidence studies and the sea's rise, both stated), the Red River delta's dikes (the 1,000-year system), the Cà Mau peninsula's mangroves (the southernmost tip, Mũi Cà Mau) |
| Longest river | The Mekong (Cửu Long — 'the nine dragons'; about 4,350–4,909 km by the counts, both stated — the world's 12th-longest; about 220–230 km in Vietnam in the two branches, the Tiền and the Hậu, to the delta and the sea; the upstream dams' effect on the delta's sediment and the salt — both the riparian states' and the dam builders' lines stated, LAW 2) and the Red River (Sông Hồng; about 1,149 km, about 510 km in Vietnam — Hanoi's river from Yunnan); the Đà (the Hòa Bình dam of 1994), the Đồng Nai and the Saigon, the Perfume (Sông Hương) of Huế, the Thu Bồn, the Mã, the Cả |
| Largest lake | The Thác Bà reservoir (about 230 km²; 1971 — Yên Bái) and the Hòa Bình (about 208 km²) and the Trị An (about 323 km² at the full level — the largest reservoir by the area by some counts, both stated) reservoirs; the natural lakes — the Ba Bể (about 5 km²; Bắc Kạn — the largest natural freshwater lake, the Ramsar site of 2011), the Lắk lake (Đắk Lắk), the Tơ Nưng (Biển Hồ; Pleiku's crater lake), Hanoi's West Lake (about 5 km²) |
| Largest island | Phú Quốc (about 575–589 km² by the counts, both stated; the Gulf of Thailand's resort island — the APEC 2027 host city by the plan, by the reports), then Cái Bầu (Quảng Ninh; about 172 km²), Cát Bà (about 140 km²; Hạ Long's neighbor); the Côn Đảo (the old prison islands), the Lý Sơn, the Phú Quý, the Bạch Long Vĩ in the Gulf of Tonkin; the claimed Paracel (Hoàng Sa) and Spratly (Trường Sa) groups (LAW 2); about 2,770–3,000 coastal islands by the counts |
| Climate | Tropical monsoon in the south (Aw and Am by the Köppen map — the dry season of December–April and the wet of May–November; Ho Chi Minh City about 27–28 °C the year round) and humid subtropical in the north (Cwa — the cool, drizzly winters of about 15–17 °C in Hanoi and the hot, wet summers of about 29–30 °C; the frosts and the snow of Sa Pa's peaks); the central coast's typhoon and flood season of September–November; the rainfall of about 1,500–2,000 mm a year (above 3,000 mm in places); the heat records about 44 °C (Tương Dương, Nghệ An, May 2023 — by the meteorological service's line) |
| Natural hazards | The typhoons and the floods — Typhoon Yagi (7 September 2024; the strongest in the north for decades — about 300–345 dead and missing by the counts, both stated), Bualoi (late September 2025), the central floods of October–November 2025 (Huế, Hội An, Đà Nẵng, the Khánh Hòa and the Đắk Lắk — the record rains; about 100-plus dead by the reports), Damrey (2017), Linfa and the 2020 central floods (about 250 dead); the landslides of the north (Làng Nủ of September 2024), the salt intrusion and the droughts of the Mekong delta (2016, 2020, 2024), the sea level's rise (the delta among the world's most exposed); the earthquakes small (the Kon Tum's tremors of the 2020s) |
| Nearby countries | China (the north; about 1,281 km — the 1979 border war (both the Chinese and the Vietnamese casualty counts stated, LAW 2), the 1999 land border treaty, the Gulf of Tonkin boundary of 2000, the East Sea disputes — LAW 2), Laos (the west; the 'special relationship'; the longest border), Cambodia (the southwest; the 1978–1989 intervention against the Khmer Rouge — the 'liberation' and the 'occupation' readings both stated, LAW 2; the Funan Techo canal's concern of 2024 onward); the sea neighbors — the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia (the EEZ deal of 2022), Thailand, Brunei |
| Minerals and resources | The rare earths (about 22 million metric tons of reserves by the USGS's line — the world's second-largest by some counts and sixth by others, both stated; the mining's slow start), the bauxite of the Central Highlands (among the world's largest reserves), the coal of Quảng Ninh (the anthracite), the oil and the gas offshore (the Bạch Hổ 'White Tiger' field of 1986; the output's decline — about 9–10 million metric tons of crude a year by the counts), the iron ore, the tin, the titanium, the phosphates, the tungsten (Núi Pháo), the granite; the fertile deltas (the rice), the fisheries, the forests (about 42% of the land), the hydropower |
| Protected areas | About 34 national parks and about 170-plus protected areas by the counts (both stated) — Cúc Phương (1962; the first), Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng (the UNESCO site; the Sơn Đoòng cave), Cát Tiên, Ba Bể, Bạch Mã, Yok Đôn (the largest — about 1,155 km²), Tràm Chim (the Sarus cranes; Ramsar 2012), U Minh Thượng, Côn Đảo (the marine park), Hoàng Liên; about 11 biosphere reserves of UNESCO (Cần Giờ of 2000 the first; Kon Hà Nừng of 2021) and about 9–10 Ramsar sites by the counts |
| Extreme points | North: Lũng Cú in Hà Giang (now in the merged Tuyên Quang province; about 23°23′ N — the flagpole of the northernmost point); South: Mũi Cà Mau (about 8°34′ N on the mainland; the islands further by the claims, LAW 2); West: the A Pa Chải tri-border point with China and Laos in Điện Biên (about 102°09′ E); East: the Mũi Đôi of Khánh Hòa (about 109°28′ E on the mainland — the first sunrise point of the mainland by the usual line) |
| Land and water | About 331,345 km² (331,212 by the other count — both stated) — the hills and the mountains about three-quarters (the Annamite Range — the Trường Sơn along the Laos border, the northern highlands), the deltas and the coastal plains about a quarter (the Red River delta about 15,000 km², the Mekong delta about 40,000 km² in Vietnam); the forests about 42% (the reforestation from about 28% of 1990 — both the official and the satellite counts' lines stated), the rice land about 4 million hectares; the inland water about 4,500 km² |
| Islands and coasts | About 3,260 km of coast (from Móng Cái to Hà Tiên) — Hạ Long Bay's about 1,600–1,900 limestone islets (both counts stated), the beaches of Đà Nẵng (My Khe), Nha Trang, Mũi Né, Quy Nhơn, Phú Quốc, Côn Đảo; the Hội An's port of the old trade; the about 2,770–3,000 islands; the EEZ about 1 million km² by the claims (both stated, LAW 2) |
| The country | The 'S' of the dragon in five pictures — Hạ Long Bay's limestone towers in the mist, the rice terraces of Sa Pa and Mù Cang Chải in the harvest's gold, the Mekong delta's floating markets (Cái Răng), Hanoi's Old Quarter and its motorbikes, Hội An's lanterns on the Thu Bồn; the caves of Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng (Sơn Đoòng — the world's largest cave passage by volume by the usual line) |
People
| Population | 102.3 million average population in 2025 by the National Statistics Office (101.3 million in 2024 by its count — both stated); the censuses — 96,208,984 (2019), 85,846,997 (2009), 76,323,173 (1999), 64,375,762 (1989), 52,741,766 (1979); the largest units after the 2025 mergers — Ho Chi Minh City (about 14 million), Hanoi (about 8.7–8.8 million), Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa, Đồng Nai, An Giang, Đắk Lắk; the overseas Vietnamese about 5–6 million (both stated) |
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| Growth rate | About 0.9–1.0% a year in 2024–25 by the statistics office (both stated) — down from about 2% of the 1990s; the two-child limit's removal (June 2025 — the Population Ordinance's amendment letting the couples decide the number of children); the aging's speed (the 'aging society' since about 2011 by the office's line) |
| Fertility rate | About 1.91–1.93 children per woman in 2024–25 by the statistics office (1.91 in 2024 and 1.93 in 2025 — both stated) — below the replacement level of 2.1 (Ho Chi Minh City's about 1.4 — among Asia's lowest city rates); the sex ratio at birth about 110 boys per 100 girls (2025) |
| Life expectancy | About 74.5–74.7 years at birth by the statistics office's 2024–25 lines (the women about 77, the men about 72 — both stated); the healthy life years about 65 by the WHO's line; the non-communicable diseases the main causes; the COVID's toll of about 43,000 deaths by the official count (both the official and the excess estimates stated) |
| Age structure | 0–14 years about 23–24%, 15–64 about 67–68%, 65 and over about 9% by the 2024–25 estimates (both stated) — the working-age (15–59) population 62.7% in 2025 (the 'golden population structure' to the late 2030s), the median age about 33; the aging index rising fast |
| Urbanization | About 38–40% urban by the official line of 2024–25 (both stated; the 2025 mergers' reclassifications pending) — Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng and Cần Thơ the big cities; the rural-to-urban migration of the Mekong delta's young to the Southeast's factories (Bình Dương, Đồng Nai) |
| Ethnic groups | 54 recognized ethnic groups — the Kinh (the Việt) about 85.3% by the 2019 census, the Tày about 1.9%, the Thái about 1.9%, the Mường about 1.5%, the Hmong about 1.5%, the Khmer about 1.4%, the Nùng about 1.1%, the Dao, the Gia Rai, the Ê Đê, the Ba Na, the Sán Chay, the Chăm, the Hoa (the ethnic Chinese — about 750,000; the 1978–79 exodus of the boat people), the Brâu and the Ơ Đu the smallest (a few hundred each) |
| Languages | Vietnamese (the national language; about 85% the first language; the chữ Quốc ngữ script); the minority languages of the five language families (the Austroasiatic — the Mường, the Khmer, the Ba Na; the Tai-Kadai — the Tày, the Thái, the Nùng; the Hmong-Mien; the Austronesian — the Chăm, the Ê Đê, the Gia Rai; the Sino-Tibetan — the Hoa); English (the main foreign language; the second-language plan of 2025–2035, by the reports), French (the colonial era's), Russian (the Soviet era's), Chinese, Japanese and Korean (the investors' languages) |
| Religion | The non-religious and the folk religion about 73–86% by the 2019 census and the surveys (both stated; the ancestor veneration's altars in most homes, the village's tutelary spirit, the Mother Goddess worship); the Buddhists about 4.8% registered by the census and about 12–15% by the surveys (both stated), the Catholics about 6.1% (about 6–7 million), the Protestants about 1.1%, the Cao Đài about 0.6%, the Hòa Hảo about 1%, the Muslims and the Brahmanists of the Chăm; the state's management of the religions (LAW 2) |
| Health | The health insurance's coverage about 94–95% of the people by the counts (the free hospital fees' plan of 2026 onward — the Politburo's Resolution 72 of 2025 for the free basic care by 2030, by the reports); the hospitals of Bạch Mai, Chợ Rẫy, Việt Đức; the doctors about 1.2–1.5 per 1,000; the health spending about 4.5–5% of GDP; the COVID response's early success of 2020 (the zero deaths to July 2020) and the 2021 Delta wave; the dioxin's legacy (Agent Orange — about 3 million affected by the Vietnamese association's count and the U.S. government's narrower line, both stated, LAW 2) |
| Education | The free public schooling to the grade 9 and the free tuition for the public schools from September 2025 (the decision of 2025 — the preschool to the high school, by the reports); the literacy about 96–97%; the PISA scores above the OECD's average in 2012–2018 by the usual line; the universities — the Vietnam National Universities of Hanoi (1906's Indochina University roots) and Ho Chi Minh City, the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the Fulbright University (2016), the RMIT Vietnam, the VinUni; the Temple of Literature's Quốc Tử Giám (1076 — the first university) |
| Migrants and diaspora | The overseas Vietnamese about 5–6 million by the counts (both stated) — the United States (about 2.2–2.4 million; Orange County's Little Saigon), France (about 300,000–350,000), Australia (about 300,000), Canada, Germany, Cambodia, Taiwan, Japan (about 600,000 workers and students — the largest foreign workforce of Japan by some counts), South Korea; the boat people of 1975–1995 (about 800,000 by sea and the deaths at sea of about 200,000–400,000 by the UNHCR's and the other counts — both stated, LAW 2); the labor export (about 150,000 a year); the remittances about US$14–16 billion a year (Ho Chi Minh City's about half, by the reports) |
| Social indicators | The poverty (the multidimensional line) about 1.9–2% in 2025 by the official count (from about 58% of 1993 by the World Bank's line — both stated); the unemployment about 2.2% (2025; the youth's about 9%), the employed about 52.4 million, the average monthly income of the workers about 8.4 million dong (2025); the Gini about 0.36–0.37; the sex ratio at birth's imbalance; the women's representation in the National Assembly about 27–30%; the rights groups' political prisoners about 150–200 by the counts and the state's 'no political prisoners' line (both stated, LAW 2) |
| Cities and provinces | 34 province-level units since 1 July 2025 (from 63; the districts abolished; about 3,321 communes, wards and special zones by the counts) — the six centrally governed cities (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng, Cần Thơ, Huế) and 28 provinces (Đồng Nai's city status of 30 April 2026 making seven cities and 27 provinces by the reports — both counts stated); the merged names (Tuyên Quang with Hà Giang, Lào Cai with Yên Bái, Gia Lai with Bình Định, Đắk Lắk with Phú Yên, Khánh Hòa with Ninh Thuận, Lâm Đồng with Đắk Nông and Bình Thuận, An Giang with Kiên Giang) |
| Names and customs | The family name first (Nguyễn about 38% of the people by the usual count, Trần, Lê, Phạm, Hoàng, Huỳnh, Phan, Vũ), the middle name and the given name — the people addressed by the given name (To Lam's 'Lam'); the Tết (the Lunar New Year — the family reunion, the bánh chưng, the lucky money, the peach and the apricot blossoms), the Mid-Autumn Festival (the lanterns and the mooncakes), the ancestor altars, the áo dài (the national dress), the conical hat (nón lá), the water puppetry of the Red River delta (the 11th century), the motorbike culture, the street-side coffee and the 'bia hơi' |
| Media and sport culture | The state's and the Party's media (VTV — Vietnam Television, VOV — the Voice of Vietnam, the Nhân Dân — the Party daily of 1951, the Quân Đội Nhân Dân, the Vietnam News Agency), the big dailies (Tuổi Trẻ, Thanh Niên, VnExpress — the most read online, VietNamNet); the press under the Party's guidance (RSF's ranks of about 173rd–178th — the state's 'responsible press' and the press groups' 'censorship' lines both stated, LAW 2); the Facebook, the YouTube, the TikTok and the Zalo (the domestic messaging app) the social space; the football's passion (the 2024 ASEAN title's street celebrations), the V.League (Công An Hà Nội the 2025–26 champion — by the reports), the badminton, the e-sports |
Government
| System | A one-party socialist republic under the constitution of 2013 (amended on 16 June 2025) — the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV; 3 February 1930) the leading force by Article 4; the Party's National Congress every five years (the 14th of 19–23 January 2026; about 1,600 delegates for about 5.6 million members by the reports), the Central Committee of 200 (2026–2031), the Politburo of 19 and the Secretariat of 13 (by the reports); the state — the President, the National Assembly, the Government, the courts and the procuracies; the 'collective leadership' of the 'four pillars' changed by the General Secretary's holding of the presidency from 7 April 2026 (both the 'unified command' and the 'strongman' readings stated, LAW 2) |
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| Head of state | State President To Lam (since 7 April 2026; unanimously elected by the 16th National Assembly — the second General Secretary in the modern era to hold the presidency after Nguyễn Phú Trọng's 2018–2021 by the usual line); the commander of the armed forces and the National Defense and Security Council's chair; the predecessors — Lương Cường (21 October 2024 – 7 April 2026), To Lam himself (22 May – 21 October 2024), Võ Văn Thưởng (2023–2024; resigned in March 2024), Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (2021–2023; resigned in January 2023); the state visits of 2026 (China 14–17 April, India 5–7 May — the 'Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership' and 13 documents, Thailand, Singapore and the Shangri-La Dialogue) |
| Head of government | Prime Minister Le Minh Hung (since 7 April 2026; 495 of 495) — the Government of six deputy prime ministers (four new) and 17 ministers and heads of the ministerial agencies (nine new — by the reports) after the 2025 streamlining (the ministries' mergers — the Finance with the Planning and Investment, the Agriculture with the Natural Resources and Environment, the Transport with the Construction, the Home Affairs with the Labor, the Information and Communications into the Science and Technology); the predecessor Phạm Minh Chính (5 April 2021 – 7 April 2026); the Government's offices and the 'Decree' rule-making |
| Legislature | The National Assembly (Quốc hội; unicameral; the 16th of 2026–2031) — about 500 deputies by the law, elected on 15 March 2026 (the multi-candidate lists vetted by the Fatherland Front; the turnout above 99% by the official count — LAW 2), the full-time deputies about 40%; Chairman Tran Thanh Man (reelected April 2026), the Standing Committee; the two regular sessions a year; the 2025–26 laws — the constitutional amendment of 16 June 2025, the AI law (in force 1 March 2026), the penal code's change abolishing the death penalty for eight crimes (2025 — the embezzlement among them, by the usual line), the digital technology industry law |
| Parties | The Communist Party of Vietnam only (founded on 3 February 1930 by Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong; the Indochinese Communist Party of 1930–1945, the Workers' Party of 1951–1976, the CPV from 1976) — about 5.6 million members by the reports; the Vietnam Fatherland Front (the umbrella of the mass organizations — the Youth Union, the Women's Union, the Farmers' Union and the General Confederation of Labor merged into it in 2025); no opposition party allowed (the Viet Tan of the diaspora labeled 'terrorist' by the state — both the state's and the group's lines stated, LAW 2) |
| Judiciary | The Supreme People's Court (the Chief Justice elected by the National Assembly) and the people's courts (the 2025 reform — the district courts replaced by the regional courts, by the usual line), the military courts; the Supreme People's Procuracy; the Constitutional Council not created (the 2013 debate); the civil law system of the socialist type; the death penalty (about 10 crimes after the 2025 cuts by the counts; the execution figures a state secret — both the state's and the rights groups' lines stated, LAW 2); the anti-corruption trials of the 'blazing furnace' (the Vạn Thịnh Phát case — Trương Mỹ Lan's death sentence of April 2024 for about US$12.5 billion of the embezzlement, commuted to life imprisonment after the 2025 law change by the reports; the Việt Á test kits case) |
| Administrative divisions | 34 province-level units since 1 July 2025 (the 28 provinces and the 6 centrally governed cities; Đồng Nai's city status of 30 April 2026 by the reports — both counts stated) and the commune level (about 3,321 communes, wards and special zones) — the two-level local government of the 2025 constitutional amendment (the district level abolished); the special zones of the islands (Phú Quốc, Côn Đảo, Vân Đồn, Lý Sơn, Bạch Long Vĩ, Cát Hải, Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa by Vietnam's claims — LAW 2) |
| Constitution and rights | The constitution of 2013 (the fifth after 1946, 1959, 1980 and 1992; the 2025 amendment) — the human rights' chapter, the 'socialist-oriented market economy', the Party's leading role; the rights' record — the press and the internet controls (the 2018 cybersecurity law), the jailed bloggers and the activists (Phạm Đoan Trang's nine years of 2021; the independent journalist's arrest of 19 March 2026 — by the reports), the labor unions' monopoly (the independent unions' path under the 2019 labor code and the EVFTA — both stated), the religious groups' registration (LAW 2); Freedom House's 'Not Free'; the death penalty's cuts of 2025 |
| Military | The Vietnam People's Army (VPA; 22 December 1944 — Võ Nguyên Giáp's Armed Propaganda Unit) — about 450,000–500,000 active and about 5 million reserves and the militia by the counts (both stated); the Ground Force, the Navy (the Kilo submarines of Russia; the Spratly outposts), the Air Defense–Air Force, the Coast Guard, the Border Guard; the conscription of 24 months; the 'four no's' defense policy (no alliances, no foreign bases, no siding with one country against another, no force or threat of force — the 2019 white paper); the arms' diversification (the Israeli Rafael missile deal of about US$250 million of 2 February 2026, by the reports; the Indian BrahMos talks and the 2023 Kirpan corvette gift); the Vietnam International Defense Expo (2022, 2024) |
| Foreign relations | The 'bamboo diplomacy' (the flexible and the rooted — To Lam's and Trọng's line) — the comprehensive strategic partnerships with China (2008), Russia (2012), India (2016; enhanced in May 2026), South Korea (2022), the United States (September 2023 — Biden's Hanoi visit), Japan (2023), Australia (2024), France (2024), Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and others (about 12–14 by 2025 — both counts stated); ASEAN (1995; the 2020 chair); the UN's peacekeeping (South Sudan, the Central African Republic); the East Sea disputes with China (the Paracels' 1974 battle, the 1988 Johnson South Reef clash — 64 Vietnamese sailors killed — the 2014 oil rig crisis, the island-building of the 2020s on both sides — LAW 2); the U.S. tariffs (20% of August 2025 and 12.5% of July 2026 by the reports) and the trade surplus |
| Police and security | The Ministry of Public Security (the People's Public Security; To Lam's ministry of 2016–2024; the minister and the deputy ministers of the police generals — by the usual line among the most powerful ministries), the Mobile Police, the internal security's departments (the A05 cybersecurity department); the crime's low rate by the official counts; the drugs' trafficking routes from the Golden Triangle (the marijuana ring's 28 arrests of 21 January 2026, by the reports); the scam centers' crackdowns with Cambodia and Myanmar; the residence's electronic ID (the VNeID; the chip-based ID cards of 2021 onward) |
| Elections | The National Assembly and the People's Councils' elections of 15 March 2026 (about 500 seats; the candidates screened by the Fatherland Front's consultative conferences — the Party's members about 90–95% of the winners by the counts; the turnout above 99% by the official line — both the 'socialist democracy' and the 'no competitive choice' lines stated, LAW 2); the President, the Prime Minister and the Chairman elected by the Assembly (7 April 2026); the Party's internal elections at the congress (the General Secretary by the Central Committee — 23 January 2026); the next national election due in 2031 |
| The politics of 2024–26 in dates | 20 Mar 2024 President Võ Văn Thưởng resigns; 26 Apr 2024 Chairman Vương Đình Huệ resigns; 22 May 2024 To Lam President; 19 Jul 2024 Nguyễn Phú Trọng dies; 3 Aug 2024 To Lam General Secretary; 21 Oct 2024 Lương Cường President; Dec 2024 – Mar 2025 the ministries' streamlining; 30 Apr 2025 the 50th Reunification Day; 16 Jun 2025 the constitutional amendment; 1 Jul 2025 the 34-unit map; 2 Sep 2025 the 80th National Day's parade; 19–23 Jan 2026 the 14th Congress (To Lam reelected on 23 January); 15 Mar 2026 the National Assembly election; 6–7 Apr 2026 the new Assembly elects To Lam President and Le Minh Hung Prime Minister; 14–17 Apr 2026 the China visit; 30 Apr 2026 Đồng Nai a city (by the reports); 5–7 May 2026 the India visit; 24 Jul 2026 the U.S. tariff of 12.5% (by the reports); 24 Sep 2026 To Lam meets Canada's Carney |
| Current issues | The growth drive (the 10%-a-year target of 2026–2030 and the 2045 high-income goal; the nine months' 9.01% of 2026), the institutional streamlining's settling (the 34 units, the commune governments), the anti-corruption campaign and the officials' caution (the 'fear of responsibility'), the inflation's rise (5.08% in September 2026), the U.S. tariffs and the trade surplus (the transshipment rules), the electricity's supply (the 2023 northern blackouts; the nuclear power plan of Ninh Thuận revived in 2024–25 with Russia's and Japan's talks — by the reports), the Mekong delta's sinking and the salt, the North–South high-speed railway (about US$67 billion; 1,541 km — the start planned for late 2026), the East Sea (LAW 2), the political freedoms (LAW 2) |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$490–515 billion in 2025 by the counts (both stated; about US$5,000 a head — the statistics office's line about US$5,026) — the world's 32nd–35th by the tables; Southeast Asia's fourth-largest after Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore by some counts; the IMF's 2026 projection above US$550 billion by the relays (by the reports); the lower-middle-income status of the World Bank with the 2030 upper-middle goal |
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| GDP (PPP) | About US$1.6–1.8 trillion by purchasing power by the IMF's relayed lines of 2025–26 (both stated) — about US$16,000–17,500 a head; the world's top-25 by the PPP counts |
| Growth and inflation | The growth of about 7.1% in 2024 and about 8.0% in 2025 (8.02% by the statistics office) and 9.01% in January–September 2026 (the quarters — 8.15% in Q1, 8.81% in Q2 and 9.95% in Q3; the industry and the construction 11.21%, the services 8.69%, the agriculture 4.02%); the CPI's 4.52% average in the nine months and 5.08% on the year in September 2026 (the core's 4.26%); the State Bank's inflation ceiling of about 4.5% (both the target and the outturn stated) |
| Monetary policy and the dong | The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV; 6 May 1951 — the National Bank's founding date; the central bank under the Government) — the refinancing rate of about 4.5% (since June 2023 by the counts); the credit growth quotas for the banks (about 16% for 2025 by the plan); the dong's managed float — the central rate of VND 25,433 to the U.S. dollar (6 August 2026) and the free market's about 26,100 (both stated; by the reports); the gold market's reform (the SJC gold monopoly's end of 2025 by the decree — by the reports); about 290–300 dong to the Indian rupee |
| Public finances | The public debt about 34–37% of GDP (2024–25; the legal ceiling of 60% — both stated), the budget deficit about 3–4% of GDP by the plan; the revenue's growth above the plan in 2024–25 (the property and the corporate taxes); the VAT of 10% (8% for many goods under the 2023–2026 cuts), the corporate income tax of 20%, the personal income tax of 5–35%; the sovereign ratings — BB+ (S&P, Fitch) and Ba2 (Moody's) by the relays (both stated); the public investment's push (the expressways, the airports, the railway) |
| Structure and labor | Industry and construction about 37–38% of GDP, services about 42–43%, agriculture, forestry and fisheries about 11–12% (2025 — both shares by the year's base stated); the labor force about 53 million and the employed 52.4 million (2025 — services 40.8%, industry and construction 33.5%, agriculture about 25.7%); the unemployment about 2.2% (the youth's 9.04%); the informal jobs about 60–65% by the counts; the minimum wages of the four regions (from about 3.45 to 4.96 million dong a month of 2024; the 7.2% rise of 2026 — by the reports) |
| Trade | One of the world's most trade-dependent economies (the trade about 180–190% of GDP by the counts) — the exports about US$470–475 billion in 2025 by the counts (both stated; up about 17%) and up 21.29% in January–September 2026 (the statistics office), the imports up 27.19%; the exports — the phones and the electronics (Samsung's plants of Bắc Ninh and Thái Nguyên — about 15–20% of the exports by the usual line), the computers and the parts, the machinery, the textiles and the garments, the footwear, the furniture, the seafood, the rice, the coffee (the world's second-largest producer), the cashews (the largest exporter), the pepper; the partners — the United States (the largest buyer; the trade surplus about US$120–130 billion of 2024–25), China (the largest supplier), the EU (the EVFTA of 2020), ASEAN, South Korea, Japan; India about US$15–16 billion of two-way trade (the US$25 billion target for 2030, May 2026) |
| Agriculture | The rice (about 43–44 million metric tons a year; the world's second or third-largest exporter — about 8–9 million metric tons of 2024–25; the Mekong delta's 'rice bowl', the 1 million hectares of the high-quality, low-emission rice program of 2023–2030), the coffee (the robusta of the Central Highlands — the world's second-largest producer), the cashews (the largest exporter), the black pepper (the largest exporter), the rubber, the tea, the durians (the China boom of 2022 onward), the dragon fruit, the shrimp and the pangasius (the tra catfish) of the Mekong delta, the fishing; the agriculture's share falling (about 11–12% of GDP) |
| Industry | The manufacturing for the export — the electronics (Samsung — about US$20-plus billion invested since 2008; LG, Intel's Ho Chi Minh City plant (2010), Foxconn, Luxshare, Apple's suppliers' moves of the 2020s), the textiles and the footwear (Nike's and Adidas's largest supplier base by the usual line), the steel (Hòa Phát; the Formosa Hà Tĩnh — the 2016 marine disaster's polluter), the cars (VinFast — the EV maker of Vingroup; the Nasdaq listing of August 2023), the shipbuilding, the cement, the chemicals; the semiconductor's ambitions (the 2024 strategy; the 50,000 engineers' goal by 2030); the state's giants (PetroVietnam, EVN, Viettel, Vinacomin) |
| Tourism | About 17.5 million international arrivals in 2024 and about 21 million in 2025 by the counts (both stated; the record — above the 18 million of 2019), the 2026 target of about 25 million (by the reports); the visitors — South Korea (the largest), China, Taiwan, the United States, Japan, India (the fast-growing — about 600,000–700,000 of 2025 by the counts; the direct flights of VietJet and IndiGo); Hạ Long Bay, Hội An, Huế, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Đà Nẵng, Phú Quốc, Sa Pa, Nha Trang, the Mekong delta, Phong Nha; the e-visa of 90 days for all nationalities (August 2023); the speedboat capsizing near Phú Quốc of 11 July 2026 (15 Indian tourists killed — by the reports) |
| Energy | The electricity about 30–35% coal, about 25–30% hydropower, about 10–13% solar and wind, about 10% gas by the counts (both stated; the solar boom of 2019–2020 — about 16–17 GW installed under the feed-in tariffs); EVN (the state's grid and the generator); the Power Development Plan VIII (2023; revised 2025 — the offshore wind, the LNG, the nuclear's return); the Just Energy Transition Partnership with the G7 (December 2022; US$15.5 billion pledged — the U.S. withdrawal of 2025 by the reports); the oil and the gas (PetroVietnam; the Dung Quất and the Nghi Sơn refineries); the 2023 northern power shortages |
| Banks and markets | The State Bank of Vietnam; the banks — the state-owned Vietcombank (the most valuable), BIDV, VietinBank, Agribank, the private Techcombank, VPBank, MB, ACB, Sacombank; the bad debts' cleanup (the 2017 resolution; the SCB's collapse with the Vạn Thịnh Phát fraud — the 2022 run); the stock exchanges of Ho Chi Minh City (HOSE; 2000) and Hanoi (HNX; 2005) — the market capitalization about US$250–300 billion by the counts (both stated); FTSE Russell's upgrade to the 'secondary emerging' market status (announced October 2025, effective September 2026 — by the reports); the KRX trading system (May 2025) |
| Infrastructure projects | The North–South high-speed railway (1,541 km Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City; about US$67 billion; approved by the National Assembly on 30 November 2024; the construction planned from late 2026 — by the reports), the Lào Cai–Hanoi–Hải Phòng railway (the start of December 2025), the North–South Expressway (about 3,000-plus km of the expressways nationwide by 2025 — by the reports), the Long Thành International Airport (the Đồng Nai's new gateway; the first phase's opening of 2026 by the plan — by the reports), the urban metros (Hanoi's lines 2A and 3; Ho Chi Minh City's Line 1 Bến Thành–Suối Tiên of 22 December 2024), the Cần Giờ international transshipment port, the nuclear plants' revival (Ninh Thuận 1 and 2), the offshore wind |
| Poverty and inequality | The poverty about 1.9–2% by the multidimensional national line of 2025 (from about 58% of 1993 by the World Bank's line — one of the world's fastest declines by the Bank's line; both stated); the ethnic minorities' higher poverty (the northern mountains and the Central Highlands — about 25–30% of the poor households by the counts); the Gini about 0.36–0.37; the new millionaires and the billionaires (Phạm Nhật Vượng of Vingroup — the richest, by the Forbes lists); the social housing goal of one million apartments by 2030 |
| Economic history in brief | The rice and the trade of the dynasties; the French colonial economy (the rubber, the rice of Cochinchina, the coal; the Michelin plantations); the war economies (the North's Soviet-aided plan, the South's U.S.-aided market); the post-1975 collectivization and the crisis (the inflation of about 700–775% of 1986 by the counts, both stated; the famine fears); the Đổi Mới (the 'renovation' of the 6th Congress, December 1986 — the market reforms, the household farming of the 1988 Resolution 10, the foreign investment law of 1987); the U.S. embargo's end (1994) and the normalization (1995); the WTO (2007); the 2008 inflation crisis; the 'China plus one' manufacturing boom (2010s–20s); the 2025 'era of the nation's rise' reforms (the private economy's Resolution 68 of May 2025 — the 'most important force' line) |
Transport
| Roads | About 600,000–630,000 km of roads by the counts (both stated; the national highways about 25,000 km) — the National Route 1A (Lạng Sơn to Cà Mau; about 2,300 km — the spine), the Ho Chi Minh Road (the Trường Sơn's old trail; about 3,100 km), the North–South Expressway (the main sections of 2025 — by the reports), the Hanoi–Hải Phòng and the Hanoi–Lào Cai expressways; the motorbikes about 70–77 million registered (both stated) — about one per 1.4 people; the cars about 6–7 million; the helmet law of 2007; the road deaths about 6,000–11,000 a year by the police's and the WHO's counts (both stated) |
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| Rail | Vietnam Railways (VNR; about 3,143 km of track by the counts — mostly the meter gauge) — the North–South Railway (the 'Reunification Express'; Hanoi–Saigon about 1,726 km; completed in 1936 — the trains' about 30–33 hours), the Hanoi–Lào Cai (to Yunnan), the Hanoi–Đồng Đăng (to China — the Nanning trains), the Hanoi–Hải Phòng; the North–South high-speed railway (approved 2024; 350 km/h planned) and the Lào Cai–Hanoi–Hải Phòng standard-gauge line (December 2025's start); the train-truck collision in Hanoi of 7 June 2026 (no casualties — by the reports) |
| City transit | Hanoi — the metro Line 2A (Cát Linh–Hà Đông; 6 November 2021 — China's loan) and Line 3 (Nhổn–Cầu Giấy elevated section of August 2024 and the underground section's progress — by the reports), the BRT (2016), the buses, the electric buses of VinBus; Ho Chi Minh City — the Metro Line 1 (Bến Thành–Suối Tiên; 19.7 km; opened 22 December 2024 — Japan's ODA), the buses and the river bus (2017); the motorbike taxis' apps (Grab, Be, Xanh SM — VinFast's electric taxis of 2023) |
| Air | About 22 civilian airports by the counts (the plan to consolidate) — Tân Sơn Nhất (SGN; Ho Chi Minh City — about 40 million passengers a year; the Terminal 3 of April 2025), Nội Bài (HAN; Hanoi), Đà Nẵng, Cam Ranh, Phú Quốc, Cát Bi, Long Thành (the new Ho Chi Minh City gateway; the first phase of 2026 by the plan — by the reports); the airlines — Vietnam Airlines (1956; the national carrier), VietJet Air (2011; the low-cost giant), Bamboo Airways, Vietravel Airlines, Sun PhuQuoc Airways (2025); the direct flights to India (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Ahmedabad) |
| Ports and waterways | The seaports about 34 port areas by the counts — Hải Phòng (the northern gateway; Lạch Huyện's deep-water port), Cái Mép–Thị Vải (the southern deep-water hub of the former Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu, now in Ho Chi Minh City), the Saigon ports (Cát Lái), Đà Nẵng, Quy Nhơn, Vân Phong, the Cần Giờ international transshipment port (the plan); the container throughput about 30 million TEU a year by the counts; the inland waterways of the Mekong and the Red River deltas (about 17,000 km navigable); the shipping accidents (the vessel capsized near the Discovery Great Reef of 25 July 2026 — 18 missing and 45 rescued, by the reports) |
| Energy and utilities | EVN (Vietnam Electricity — the state's power group; the 500 kV North–South transmission lines of 1994, the circuit three of 2024 built in six months), the electricity access about 99.5–100%; the PetroVietnam's gas; the water supply companies of the provinces (the urban coverage about 95%); Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone (the telecoms); the submarine cables (the AAG, the APG, the SJC2, the ADC and the new cables of 2025–26 after the repeated cable cuts of 2023) |
| Border crossings and bridges | To China — the Hữu Nghị Quan (the Friendship Pass; Lạng Sơn), Lào Cai–Hekou, Móng Cái–Dongxing (the Bắc Luân bridge) and the Ka Long; to Laos — the Cầu Treo, the Lao Bảo–Densavan (the East–West Economic Corridor), the Na Mèo, the Bờ Y; to Cambodia — the Mộc Bài–Bavet (the Asian Highway 1), the Xa Mát, the Tịnh Biên; the bridges — the Long Biên (1903), the Thăng Long (1985; Soviet), the Nhật Tân (2015; Hanoi's cable-stayed), the Mỹ Thuận (2000; the Mekong — Australia's aid), the Cần Thơ (2010; the 2007 collapse during the construction — 54 workers killed), the Bạch Đằng, the Golden Bridge of Bà Nà Hills (2018; the 'giant hands') |
History in dates
| c. 40,000 BCE – 1000 BCE | The Paleolithic sites of the Núi Đọ and the Sơn Vi culture; the Hòa Bình culture (about 12,000–10,000 BCE — the hunter-gatherers of the limestone caves) and the Bắc Sơn; the Neolithic Phùng Nguyên (about 2000 BCE) and the rice farming of the Red River delta; the Bronze Age's Đồng Đậu and Gò Mun |
|---|---|
| 1000 BCE – 111 BCE | The Đông Sơn culture (about 1000 BCE – 1st century CE — the bronze drums of the Red River delta; the Ngọc Lũ drum); the legendary Văn Lang of the 18 Hùng kings (the Hùng Kings' worship of UNESCO 2012); An Dương Vương's Âu Lạc and the Cổ Loa citadel's spiral walls (3rd century BCE); Zhao Tuo's Nanyue (Nam Việt; 204–111 BCE — the 'Vietnamese' or the 'Chinese' kingdom by the two historiographies, both stated, LAW 2); the Sa Huỳnh culture of the center and the Óc Eo of the Mekong delta (Funan) |
| 111 BCE – 938 | The millennium of the Chinese rule (the Han's Giao Chỉ; the Tang's Annam) — the Trưng sisters' revolt (40–43 CE; the national heroines), Lady Triệu (248), Lý Bí's Early Lý (544–602; the Vạn Xuân), Mai Thúc Loan (722); the Buddhism's and the Confucianism's arrival; the Champa kingdom of the center (from 192 — the Mỹ Sơn's Hindu temples of the 4th–13th centuries) and Funan and the Khmer in the south; Ngô Quyền's victory at the Bạch Đằng River (938 — the stakes in the riverbed against the Southern Han fleet) and the independence |
| 939 – 1225 | The Ngô (939–965), the Đinh (968 — Đinh Bộ Lĩnh's Đại Cồ Việt at Hoa Lư) and the Early Lê (980–1009; Lê Hoàn's defeat of the Song, 981); the Lý dynasty (1009–1225) — Lý Thái Tổ's capital at Thăng Long (Hanoi; 1010), the Temple of Literature (1070) and the first university (1076), the Lý Thường Kiệt's poem of the 'Mountains and Rivers of the Southern Country' (1077 — the 'first declaration of independence' by the usual line) and the war with the Song (1075–1077) |
| 1225 – 1400 | The Trần dynasty (1225–1400) — the three defeats of the Mongols and the Yuan (1258, 1285, 1288 — Trần Hưng Đạo's Bạch Đằng victory of 1288 with the stakes again); the chữ Nôm literature; the marriage of Princess Huyền Trân to the Champa king (1306) and the gain of the Ô and the Lý districts (the Huế region) |
| 1400 – 1527 | The Hồ dynasty (1400–1407; the Hồ citadel of UNESCO 2011); the Ming occupation (1407–1427); Lê Lợi's Lam Sơn uprising (1418–1427) and the Later Lê dynasty (1428 — the legend of the returned sword at the Hoàn Kiếm Lake); Lê Thánh Tông (1460–1497; the Hồng Đức code, the conquest of the Champa's Vijaya in 1471 — the 'southward march', Nam tiến) |
| 1527 – 1771 | The Mạc's usurpation (1527) and the Lê's restoration (1592); the Trịnh lords of the North and the Nguyễn lords of the South (the war of 1627–1672; the Đàng Ngoài and the Đàng Trong); the southward expansion into the Mekong delta (Gia Định — Saigon of 1698) at the Khmer's and the Champa's expense; the Portuguese, the Dutch and the Japanese traders of Hội An; the Jesuits and the Alexandre de Rhodes's romanized script (the dictionary of 1651) |
| 1771 – 1858 | The Tây Sơn rebellion (1771) — Nguyễn Huệ (Emperor Quang Trung) and the defeat of the Siamese (Rạch Gầm–Xoài Mút, 1785) and of the Qing at Đống Đa (Tết of 1789); Nguyễn Ánh's victory with the French help (Pigneau de Béhaine) and the Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1945 — Emperor Gia Long; the capital at Huế; the name Việt Nam of 1804); Minh Mạng's Đại Nam (1839) and the Catholics' persecutions |
| 1858 – 1930 | The French conquest — the attack on Đà Nẵng (1 September 1858), Cochinchina's colony (1862–1867), the Tonkin's and the Annam's protectorates (the Patenôtre treaty of 1884), the Sino-French War (1884–1885), French Indochina (17 October 1887 — with Cambodia; Laos added in 1893); the Cần Vương movement (1885–1896; Emperor Hàm Nghi); the rubber plantations and the rice exports; the nationalists Phan Bội Châu and Phan Châu Trinh; the Yên Bái mutiny of the VNQDĐ (1930) |
| 1930 – 1945 | The Communist Party's founding (3 February 1930; Nguyễn Ái Quốc — Ho Chi Minh — in Hong Kong) and the Nghệ Tĩnh Soviets (1930–31); the Japanese occupation (1940–1945) with the Vichy French; the Viet Minh (May 1941; Pác Bó); the famine of 1944–45 (about 1–2 million dead by the counts — both stated, LAW 2); the Japanese coup of 9 March 1945 and Bảo Đại's Empire of Vietnam; the August Revolution (19 August 1945 in Hanoi) and Bảo Đại's abdication (30 August); Ho Chi Minh's Declaration of Independence (2 September 1945 — the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) |
| 1945 – 1954 | The First Indochina War (19 December 1946 – 1954) against the returning French; the State of Vietnam of Bảo Đại (1949; the French-backed); China's and the Soviet Union's recognition of the DRV (1950); the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ (13 March – 7 May 1954 — Võ Nguyên Giáp's victory); the Geneva Accords (21 July 1954 — the partition at the 17th parallel, the elections of 1956 never held); about 400,000–500,000 dead in the war by the counts (both stated) |
| 1954 – 1964 | The two Vietnams — the North's Democratic Republic (the land reform of 1953–56 and its executions — about 13,500–15,000 by the usual estimates and higher by others, both stated, LAW 2; the 'rectification of errors' of 1956) and the South's Republic of Vietnam (Ngô Đình Diệm; 26 October 1955 — the U.S.-backed); about 800,000–1 million northerners (mostly Catholics) moved south (1954–55); the National Liberation Front (the Viet Cong; 20 December 1960); the Buddhist crisis and the monk Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation (11 June 1963); Diệm's assassination (2 November 1963); the Gulf of Tonkin incident (2 and 4 August 1964 — the second attack's disputed reality, both stated, LAW 2) |
| 1965 – 1968 | The American war (the Vietnam War; the Resistance War against America) — the U.S. combat troops' landing at Đà Nẵng (8 March 1965), the bombing of the North (Operation Rolling Thunder, March 1965 – November 1968), the Ia Drang battle (November 1965), the troops' build-up to about 536,000 by 1968 and about 543,000 at the April 1969 peak; the Tết Offensive (30–31 January 1968) and the Huế massacre (the victims' counts stated both ways, LAW 2); the Mỹ Lai massacre (16 March 1968; about 347–504 civilians killed by the counts, both stated); the Khe Sanh siege (January–April 1968) |
| 1969 – 1975 | Ho Chi Minh's death (2 September 1969); the 'Vietnamization' and the U.S. withdrawals; the Cambodian incursion (1970) and the Lam Sơn 719 in Laos (1971); the Easter Offensive (1972) and the Christmas bombing of Hanoi (Linebacker II, 18–29 December 1972); the Paris Peace Accords (27 January 1973) and the last U.S. combat troops' exit (29 March 1973); the Ho Chi Minh Campaign and the Fall of Saigon (30 April 1975 — the tank through the Independence Palace's gate); the war's dead — about 2–3.8 million Vietnamese by the counts (the Vietnamese government's about 3 million — both stated, LAW 2) and about 58,000 Americans |
| 1975 – 1978 | The reunification (2 July 1976 — the Socialist Republic; Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City; the 4th Party Congress of December 1976 — the Communist Party of Vietnam's name); the re-education camps (about 200,000–300,000 detained, some for many years — both stated, LAW 2); the South's collectivization and the 'new economic zones'; the boat people's exodus (1975–1995) and the ethnic Chinese's flight of 1978–79; the UN's membership (20 September 1977); the friendship treaty with the Soviet Union (3 November 1978); the war with Cambodia's Khmer Rouge (25 December 1978) |
| 1979 – 1986 | Phnom Penh taken (7 January 1979; the occupation to 1989 — the 'liberation' and the 'occupation' readings both stated, LAW 2); China's invasion of the northern provinces (17 February – 16 March 1979 — both sides' claims of victory and the casualty counts stated, LAW 2) and the border clashes of the 1980s (Vị Xuyên, 1984); the U.S. embargo and the isolation; the collectivization's failures, the 1985 currency reform and the hyperinflation (about 700–775% in 1986 by the counts); Lê Duẩn's death (10 July 1986) |
| 1986 – 2000 | The Đổi Mới (the 6th Congress of December 1986 — Nguyễn Văn Linh; the market reforms); the withdrawal from Cambodia (1989); the 1991 normalization with China and the Soviet Union's collapse; the constitution of 1992; the U.S. embargo's end (3 February 1994) and the diplomatic normalization (11 July 1995); ASEAN's membership (28 July 1995); APEC (1998); the U.S. President Clinton's visit (November 2000) and the bilateral trade agreement (2000); the land border treaty with China (1999) |
| 2001 – 2010 | The U.S. bilateral trade agreement in force (December 2001); the WTO's membership (11 January 2007); the UN Security Council's non-permanent seat (2008–09); the 2008 inflation crisis (about 23%); the Hanoi expansion (2008) and the Thăng Long–Hanoi millennium (October 2010); the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long on UNESCO's list (2010); the Vinashin shipbuilder's collapse (2010) |
| 2011 – 2016 | Nguyễn Phú Trọng the General Secretary (January 2011); the Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig crisis with China (May–July 2014; the anti-China riots); Trọng's White House visit (7 July 2015); the TPP's signing (February 2016); the U.S. lethal arms embargo's end (23 May 2016 — Obama's visit); the Formosa marine disaster (April 2016); Trần Đại Quang the President (April 2016) |
| 2017 – 2021 | The APEC summit at Đà Nẵng (November 2017); the 'blazing furnace' anti-corruption campaign; the Trump–Kim summit at Hanoi (27–28 February 2019); the cybersecurity law (2019 in force); the ASEAN chair (2020) and the COVID's early containment (2020); the EVFTA (1 August 2020); the 13th Congress (January–February 2021 — Trọng's third term); the Delta wave's lockdown of Ho Chi Minh City (July–September 2021) |
| 2022 – 2023 | The RCEP (1 January 2022); the Việt Á test kits and the 'rescue flights' scandals; President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc's resignation (17 January 2023) and Võ Văn Thưởng's election (2 March 2023); the population's 100 million (April 2023); the comprehensive strategic partnership with the United States (Biden's visit of 10–11 September 2023) and with Japan; Xi Jinping's visit (December 2023 — the 'community with a shared future'); the northern power shortages (May–June 2023) |
| 2024 | Trương Mỹ Lan's death sentence (11 April 2024; the Vạn Thịnh Phát fraud — the commutation of 2025 by the reports); President Thưởng's resignation (20 March) and Chairman Vương Đình Huệ's (26 April); To Lam the President (22 May); Putin's visit (19–20 June 2024); Nguyễn Phú Trọng's death (19 July 2024) and To Lam the General Secretary (3 August); Typhoon Yagi (7 September; about 300–345 dead and missing — both stated); Lương Cường the President (21 October 2024); the high-speed railway's approval (30 November); Ho Chi Minh City's Metro Line 1 (22 December 2024) |
| 2025 (January – June) | The ASEAN Championship's football title (5 January 2025 — the second leg's win in Bangkok); the streamlining of the government (the ministries merged from March 2025); the 50th anniversary of the reunification (30 April 2025 — the parade in Ho Chi Minh City); the private economy's Resolution 68 (May 2025); the BRICS partner status (13 June 2025); the death penalty's abolition for eight crimes and the constitutional amendment (16 June 2025); the two-child limit's removal (June 2025) |
| 2025 (July – December) | The two-level local government and the 34-unit map (1 July 2025 — the 63 provinces merged, the districts abolished; Ho Chi Minh City's merger with Bình Dương and Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu); the U.S. tariff of 20% (August 2025); the 80th National Day (2 September 2025 — the grand parade at the Ba Đình); Typhoon Bualoi (late September) and the central floods of October–November 2025 (Huế, Hội An — the record rains); the free public school tuition (September 2025); the Yên Tử–Vĩnh Nghiêm–Côn Sơn, Kiếp Bạc complex on UNESCO's list (July 2025); the growth of about 8.0% for the year (8.02% by the statistics office) |
| 2026 (January – April) | The 14th Party Congress (19–23 January 2026; about 1,600 delegates — To Lam reelected General Secretary on 23 January; the Politburo of 19, the Central Committee of 200 — 87 new); the Rafael missile deal (2 February; about US$250 million, by the reports); the Tết of the Year of the Horse (17 February); the AI law in force (1 March); the National Assembly election (15 March 2026); the 16th Assembly's first session (from 6 April) — To Lam the State President and Le Minh Hung the Prime Minister (7 April; 495 of 495), Tran Thanh Man the Chairman; the state visit to China (14–17 April); South Korea's president's visit (21–24 April); Đồng Nai's city status (30 April — by the reports) |
| 2026 (May – October) | Japan's prime minister's visit (1–3 May); the state visit to India (5–7 May 2026 — the Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, 13 documents, the US$25 billion trade target for 2030, the 2+2 dialogue); the U-17 team's first FIFA U-17 World Cup qualification (14 May — by the reports); the visits to Thailand and Singapore (late May); the Phú Quốc speedboat accident (11 July; 15 Indian tourists killed — by the reports); the U.S. tariff of 12.5% (24 July — by the reports); the vessel capsized near the Discovery Great Reef (25 July; 18 missing — by the reports); To Lam's meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Carney (24 September); the nine months' growth of 9.01% and the third quarter's 9.95% (the statistics office, early October 2026) |
| The leaders in brief | The General Secretaries — Trần Phú (1930–31), Lê Duẩn (1960–1986; the war's leader with Ho Chi Minh — the Party's Chairman to 1969), Trường Chinh, Nguyễn Văn Linh (1986–91; the Đổi Mới), Đỗ Mười, Lê Khả Phiêu, Nông Đức Mạnh, Nguyễn Phú Trọng (2011–2024), To Lam (2024–); the Presidents — Ho Chi Minh (1945–1969), Tôn Đức Thắng, Trường Chinh, Võ Chí Công, Lê Đức Anh, Trần Đức Lương, Nguyễn Minh Triết, Trương Tấn Sang, Trần Đại Quang (died 2018), Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Võ Văn Thưởng, To Lam, Lương Cường, To Lam (2026–) |
| The wars in brief | The Bạch Đằng victories (938, 1288), the Mongol wars (1258–1288), the Ming occupation and the Lam Sơn war (1407–1427), the Tây Sơn's wars (1771–1802), the French conquest (1858–1885), the First Indochina War (1946–1954), the Vietnam War (1955/1965–1975), the Cambodian–Vietnamese War (1978–1989), the Sino-Vietnamese War (1979) and the border clashes to 1991, the Johnson South Reef clash (1988) — the casualty counts stated both ways where they differ (LAW 2) |
| The reforms in brief | The Đổi Mới (1986), the household contracts (1988), the foreign investment law (1987), the U.S. normalization (1995), the WTO (2007), the Enterprise Law (1999/2020), the free trade agreements (the EVFTA 2020, the CPTPP 2019, the RCEP 2022), the 2025 'revolution' of the streamlining — the 63 provinces to 34, the districts abolished, the ministries cut — and the private economy's Resolution 68 |
Records
| The natural records | Sơn Đoòng (Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng; found by a local man in 1990–91 and surveyed in 2009 — the world's largest cave passage by volume by the usual line; about 9 km long, about 200 m high in places); Hạ Long Bay's about 1,600–1,900 islets (both counts stated); Fansipan (about 3,143–3,147 m; both stated) — Indochina's highest; the Mekong delta (about 40,000 km² in Vietnam) |
|---|---|
| The war's records | The heaviest bombing campaign in history by the tonnage by the usual line (the Indochina wars — about 7 million tons of the U.S. bombs in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, both stated); the Củ Chi tunnels (about 250 km); the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the Trường Sơn's network of about 20,000 km); the Điện Biên Phủ (1954 — the first defeat of a European colonial army by an Asian independence army in a set battle by the usual line); the Agent Orange (about 72–76 million liters of the herbicides sprayed — both stated, LAW 2) |
| The economic records | One of the world's fastest growth and poverty-reduction stories of 1990–2025 by the World Bank's line (the poverty from about 58% to about 2–4% — both stated); the world's largest exporter of the cashews and the black pepper, the second-largest of the coffee and among the top three of the rice; the trade's about 180–190% of GDP; the 9.01% growth of January–September 2026 (the highest since about 2011 for the period by the statistics office's line); the Samsung's biggest overseas phone production base |
| The population records | About 102.3 million (2025) — the world's 15th or 16th most populous (both stated); the 'golden population structure' (the 62.7% working-age); the 54 ethnic groups; the Nguyễn family name of about 38% of the people by the usual count |
| The firsts of the state | The first Asian nation to defeat a colonial power in a set battle (Điện Biên Phủ, 1954, by the usual line); the General Secretary's first White House visit (Nguyễn Phú Trọng, 7 July 2015); VinFast's Nasdaq listing (August 2023); the chữ Quốc ngữ — the only East Asian national language written in the Latin script by the usual line; the 2025 merger of the provinces from 63 to 34 in one stroke |
| The faith's and the culture's records | The Temple of Literature's 82 stone steles of the doctoral laureates (1442–1779; UNESCO's Memory of the World register); the Mỹ Sơn's Chăm temples (the 4th–13th centuries); the water puppetry (the 11th century); the Cao Đài's Tây Ninh Holy See (the faith that venerates Victor Hugo among its saints); the Bái Đính pagoda complex (Ninh Bình — the records of Asia's largest Buddha statues and the bell by the national records' line); the Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum's embalmed body (since 1975) |
| The letters and the arts | Nguyễn Du's 'The Tale of Kiều' (Truyện Kiều; about 1820 — the national epic of 3,254 lines in the lục bát verse); Hồ Xuân Hương's poetry (the 'queen of the Nôm poetry'); Nguyễn Trãi's 'Great Proclamation upon the Pacification of the Wu' (1428); Bảo Ninh's 'The Sorrow of War' (1990); the film 'The Scent of Green Papaya' (1993; Trần Anh Hùng — Cannes's Caméra d'Or), Trần Anh Hùng's Cannes best director award (2023); the lacquer painting and the silk painting; the composer Trịnh Công Sơn |
| The sporting records | Hoàng Xuân Vinh's Olympic gold (the 10 m air pistol; Rio 2016 — the first); the ASEAN Championship's football titles (2008, 2018, 2024); the AFC U-23 Championship's final (2018; the snow of Changzhou); the women's World Cup debut (2023); the SEA Games' hosting (2003, 2021/2022) and the medal table's top (2021/2022); the chess's Lê Quang Liêm (the world blitz champion of 2013); the U-17's first FIFA World Cup qualification (2026; by the reports) |
| The infrastructure records | The Fansipan cable car (the Guinness records of 2016 — about 6.3 km, the elevation difference about 1,410 m); the Hòn Thơm cable car of Phú Quốc (about 7.9 km over the sea — the world's longest three-rope sea cable car by the Guinness records of 2018); the Golden Bridge of Bà Nà Hills (2018); the Thủ Thiêm 2 bridge; the 500 kV circuit three (2024; about 519 km built in about six months); the Landmark 81 (Ho Chi Minh City; 461 m — the country's tallest building of 2018) |
| The wildlife's records | The saola (the 'Asian unicorn'; found in 1992 — among the 20th century's most striking mammal discoveries by the usual line), the large-antlered muntjac (1994), the Annamite striped rabbit, the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, the Delacour's langur, the Cat Ba langur (among the world's rarest primates), the Javan rhinoceros's extinction in Vietnam (the last of Cát Tiên killed in 2010); the pangolins' trafficking hub's crackdowns |
| The disasters' marks | The famine of 1944–45 (about 1–2 million dead — both stated, LAW 2); the floods of 1971 in the Red River delta (about 100,000 dead by some estimates — the figures debated, both stated); Typhoon Linda (1997; about 3,000 dead and missing — the Mekong delta); the central floods of 1999 and 2020; the Cần Thơ bridge's collapse (2007; 54 dead); Typhoon Yagi (2024; about 300–345 dead and missing — both stated); the central floods of 2025 |
| The small and the strange | The 'S'-shaped country only about 50 km wide at Đồng Hới; the 'motorbike nation' (about 70–77 million motorbikes); the egg coffee of Hanoi (1946); the Cao Đài's Victor Hugo; the Hồ Chí Minh Trail's bicycles carrying about 200–300 kg; the 'Year of the Cat' in place of the rabbit of the Chinese zodiac; the two-level government with no districts since 2025 |
| The census and the counts | The censuses — 52.7 million (1979), 64.4 million (1989), 76.3 million (1999), 85.8 million (2009), 96,208,984 (2019); the population of 101.3 million (2024) and 102.3 million (2025) by the statistics office (both stated); the 100 million of April 2023; the next census due on 1 April 2029 |
| The partners and the powers | China (the millennium of the rule; the 1979 war; the largest trade partner), France (the colonial era of 1858–1954), Japan (1940–45; the largest ODA donor), the United States (the war of 1965–1973; the comprehensive strategic partner of 2023; the largest export market), the Soviet Union and Russia (the war era's ally), India (the strategic partner of 2007, the comprehensive of 2016 and the enhanced of May 2026 — the 2+2 dialogue, the BrahMos talks, the Kirpan gift), ASEAN (1995) |
| The rulers' records | Lê Thánh Tông (1460–1497) — the Lê dynasty's golden age; Ho Chi Minh (the President of 1945–1969 — 'Uncle Hồ'); Lê Duẩn (the General Secretary of 1960–1986 — the longest); Nguyễn Phú Trọng (the General Secretary of 2011–2024; died in office); To Lam (the General Secretary and the President combined from 7 April 2026); the youngest Prime Minister of the reunified state — Le Minh Hung (55 at his election, born 1970) |
| The last and the next | The North–South high-speed railway's start (late 2026 by the plan — by the reports); the APEC 2027 at Phú Quốc (by the plan); the 2030 goals (the upper-middle income, the 10% growth path); the 2045 high-income goal (the centenary of the 1945 independence); the next National Assembly election in 2031 and the 15th Party Congress in 2031; the next census on 1 April 2029; the East Sea's code of conduct talks (LAW 2) |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Vietnam?
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa Xã hội Chủ nghĩa Việt Nam; 'Viet Nam' the state's own English spelling) — the name of 2 July 1976 at the reunification of the North and the South; the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh on 2 September 1945 — the National Day) and the Republic of Vietnam (the South, 1955–1975) before it; the demonym Vietnamese; the UN's member of 20 September 1977, ASEAN's (28 July 1995), the WTO's (11 January 2007), APEC's, the CPTPP's and the RCEP's; the BRICS partner country (June 2025).
What is the capital of Vietnam?
Hanoi (Hà Nội — 'inside the rivers') — the capital on the Red River since 1010 (Thăng Long under the Lý dynasty's Lý Thái Tổ) and again since 1945/1976, about 8.7–8.8 million people in the city by the 2025 estimates (both stated); the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Ba Đình Square, the Hoàn Kiếm Lake, the Old Quarter's 36 streets, the Temple of Literature (1070 — the first university of 1076), the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long (UNESCO 2010), the One Pillar Pagoda; Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon; about 14 million after the merger with Bình Dương and Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu of 1 July 2025 by the counts) the largest city and the economic hub.
How big is Vietnam, and how many people live there?
About 331,345 km² (127,934 sq mi; about 331,212 km² by another count — both stated) — about 10% of India's area, about the size of Maharashtra plus Telangana; the S-shaped land about 1,650 km north to south and only about 50 km wide at Quảng Bình's narrowest; 102.3 million average population in 2025 by the National Statistics Office (about 1% a year of growth; the 100-million mark passed in 2023) — the world's 15th or 16th most populous by the counts; about 40% urban by the official line.
What are the highest and lowest points of Vietnam?
Fansipan (Phan Xi Păng) in the Hoàng Liên Sơn range of Lào Cai — about 3,143 m (3,147.3 m by the 2008 survey — both stated), 'the roof of Indochina' with its cable car of 2016 (among the world's longest non-stop three-rope cable cars — about 6.3 km, by the Guinness records of 2016); the Pu Ta Leng (about 3,049 m) and the Pu Si Lung (about 3,076 m) the next; the lowest point the South China Sea (the East Sea of the Vietnamese usage — both names stated) at sea level (0 m) and the Mekong delta's lands of about 0–2 m.
What currency does Vietnam use?
The Vietnamese dong (VND; ₫) — the dong of the reunification (the 1978 unified dong; the redenomination of 14 September 1985 — 10 old dong to 1 new; the polymer notes of 2003–2006); the State Bank of Vietnam's managed float around the central rate (VND 25,433 to the U.S. dollar on 6 August 2026; the free-market rate about 26,100 — about 2.6% weaker, by the reports — both stated) with the ±5% band of the banks' trading; about 290–300 dong to the Indian rupee; the notes of 100 to 500,000 dong (Ho Chi Minh on every note); the CPI's 4.52% average in January–September 2026 and 5.08% year-on-year in September (the statistics office).
Who governs Vietnam?
General Secretary and State President To Lam (Tô Lâm) — born 10 July 1957 in Hưng Yên; the Minister of Public Security (2016–2024), the State President of May–October 2024, the General Secretary of the Communist Party since 3 August 2024 (after Nguyễn Phú Trọng's death of 19 July 2024), reelected by the 14th Congress on 23 January 2026 and elected State President by the 16th National Assembly on 7 April 2026 (the two top posts combined — the 'party-state coordination' line and the critics' 'power concentration' line both stated, LAW 2); Prime Minister Le Minh Hung (Lê Minh Hưng; since 7 April 2026; 495 of 495 votes — the youngest prime minister, born 11 December 1970); the National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man (reelected 2026); the Politburo of 19 members; the one-party state of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
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