Location & Geography
Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia between the latitudes 8.56°and 23.39°N, and the longitudes 102.14°E and 114.65°E. Its total area is approximately 331.212 km2 [1]. The country shares land borders with China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and Malaysia across the South China Sea to the southeast.
Vietnam is long and slender, stretching in an S-shape with about 1.648 kilometers length (skyway), 50 kilometers width at the narrowest point and 600 kilometers width at the widest point [2]. The land boundaries are 4.639 km long, and the coastline length is 3.260 km (excluding islands) Vietnam claims 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) as the limit of its territorial waters, an additional 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) as a contiguous customs and security zone, and 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) as an exclusive economic zone [1]. Vietnam's land is mostly covered by hills and dense forests. About 40% land area of the country is mountains, and 42% is tropical forests and the level land covers no more than 20% [4]. |
Government and Politics
A single-party socialist republic framework - the Communist Party of Vietnam defined the politics of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. It was founded by Ho Chi Minh in 1930 and nowadays, it has played the central role in all organs of government, politics and society of Vietnam.
President of Vietnam is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Vietnam is the head of government, both of them exercise executive power. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly of Vietnam, which also adopted the current Constitution of Vietnam [3].
President of Vietnam is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Vietnam is the head of government, both of them exercise executive power. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly of Vietnam, which also adopted the current Constitution of Vietnam [3].
Climate
Located just north of the equator, Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, with humidity averaging 84-100% throughout the year. Summers are usually hot and wet, while winters are generally cold and dry. Annual rainfall ranges from 1,200 to 3,000 millimeters, nearly 90% occurs during the summer [4].
However, because of the variety of latitude and topography, the climate tends to differ significantly from place to place. People from the North, the Central, and the South will experience various types of weather. The North has a cold winter. The temperature can drop to 10°C and sometimes snow may fall on the highest points. The Central of Vietnam experiences the hot and dry winter from mid-January and mid-August while the South's climate is predominantly tropical savanna with high humidity and temperature throughout the year [4]. |
DemographicsVietnam has a population of over 91.7 million (2015 official established), includes 54 ethnic groups. Viet (Kinh) is the largest group, account for 86% of the nation’s population. The ethnic Vietnamese inhabit almost half of Vietnam while the ethnic minorities inhabit the majority of Vietnam's land [6].
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LanguagesVietnamese is the official language of the country. Around 85-90 million people in Vietnam and another 4 million people outside Vietnam speak Vietnamese. Even in some ethnic groups, where Khmer and Mon are the main languages, they still speak Vietnamese. Since the early 20th century, the Vietnamese have used a Romanized script instead of hieroglyphs [6].
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Religion
Only a small fraction of the Vietnamese adheres to institutional religions, while around 30% of population are unaffiliated to any religion. 45.3% of Vietnamese people practice folk religion (worship of gods, goddesses and ancestors). Buddhists constitute 16.4%, and Christian constitute 8.2% [6].
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