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Where is Vietnam?
About Vietnam
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

Vietnam is a large country in the south east of mainland Asia.

Vietnam has a border on the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin and South China Sea.

The land is a low, flat land in the north and south with central highlands. There are hills and mountains in the very far nowth and north west.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Vietnam, also known as lines of latitude and longtitude, are:-
Latitude - 16 10N
Longitude - 107 50E

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Check the weather in Hanoi now.

This is the time in Hanoi now

The Vietnamese flag is red with a large yellow 5-pointed star in the centre. Red respresents revolution and blood and the 5-pointed star depicts the five sections of the community, namely peasants, workers, intellectuals, traders and soldiers.

The capital of Vietnam is Hanoi.

Vietnam is a communist state with a president as head of state and the secretary-general of the Communist party as the real leader.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Vietnam is the dong.

Vietnamese is the official language.

Hear the National Anthem


These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Vietnamese National Anthem called The Marching Song. It was adopted as the National Anthem of North Vietnam in August 1945 and as the Anthem of a unified Vietnam in 1976. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

Soldiers of Vietnam, we go forward,
With the one will to save our Fatherland,
Our hurried steps are sounding on the long and arduous road.
Our flag, red with the blood of victory, bears the spirit of our country.
The distant rumbling of the guns passes over the bodies of our foes.
Overcoming all hardships, together we build our resistance bases.
Ceaselessly for the people’s cause let us struggle,
Let us hasten to the battle-field!
Forward! All together advancing!
Our Vietnam is strong, eternal.

Soldiers of Vietnam, we go forward!
The gold star of our flag in the wind
Leading our people, our native land, out of misery and suffering.
Let us join our efforts in the fight for the building of a new life.
Let us stand up and break our chains
For too long have we swallowed our hatred.
Let us keep ready for all sacrifices and our life will be radiant.
Ceaselessly for the people’s cause let us struggle,
Let us hasten to the battle-field!
Forward! All together advancing!
Our Vietnam is strong, eternal.

We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in Vietnam to provide us with a detailed history of their own country. Check how here.


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The total land area of Vietnam is 310,070 sq kms which is the 20th largest in Asia.

Vietnam has lakes, rivers and canals which total 21,140 sq kms.

Vietnam has boundaries with 5 countries

• Laos 2,161 kms
• China 1,297 kms
• Cambodia 1,158 kms

Vietnam has a coastline of 3,444 kms which is the 9th longest in Asia.

The highest point in Vietnam is Fan Si Pan at 3,144 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Vietnam is 95.26 million people, making it the 8th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 47.56 million are females and 47.70 million are males.

A person from Vietnam is called a Vietnamese.

To be a citizen of Vietnam, one of your parents must be a citizen of Vietnam. It is not sufficient to be born in Vietnam. You have to live in Vietnam for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Vietnam, by population are:-

• Ho Chi Minh City 3,467,331 people
• Hanoi 1,431,270
• Da Nang 752,493
• Haiphong 602,695
• Biên Hòa 407,208

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



33.6% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Vietnam is 15.7 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Vietnam is 5.9 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 17.4 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 18.2 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 31.7 and for males is 29.4. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

We have no figures for the average age of a woman when she has her first child.

The elderly dependency ratio is 9.6. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 10.4. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Vietnam spends 7.1% of its total income on health care.

There are 1.19 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 2.0 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

2.1% of the population are estimated as obese.

99.1% of the urban population and 96.9% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

99.4% of the urban population and 69.7% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer. a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Vietnam releases 142.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 17th highest in Asia.

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Vietnam spends 5.7% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in Vietnam. Primary education is for five years until age 11 and secondary education must continue till 15 but can go on to 18. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 4 terms and starts in the first week of August and finishes in the middle of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas, a week in October and a wekk in March.

92.8% of females and 96.3% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

7.2% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 7.2% are unemployed while with males 7.1% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Vietnam is 56.46 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

2.3% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 38 paved airports in Vietnam, which is the 18th highest number in Asia.


There are 2,600 kilometres of railways in Vietnam, the 18th longest in Asia.


There are 148,388 kilometres of roads in Vietnam, which means Vietnam is in 10th place for the most kilometres of roads in Asia.

There are 5 major national newspapers in Vietnam.

There are 120.60 million mobile phone users.

6% of the people have a fixed landline.



49.74 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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