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Geography |
Location |
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Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia |
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16 00 N, 106 00 E |
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Southeast Asia |
Area |
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total: 329,560 sq km
land: 325,360 sq km
water: 4,200 sq km |
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slightly larger than New Mexico |
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total: 4,639 km
border countries: Cambodia 1,228 km, China 1,281 km, Laos 2,130 km |
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3,444 km (excludes islands) |
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territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin |
Climate |
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tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (May to September) and warm, dry season (October to March) |
Terrain |
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low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest |
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lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: Fan Si Pan 3,144 m |
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phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests, hydropower |
Land use |
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arable land: 20.14%
permanent crops: 6.93%
other: 72.93% (2005) |
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30,000 sq km (2003) |
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occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding, especially in the Mekong River delta |
Environment - current issues:
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logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices contribute to deforestation and soil degradation; water pollution and overfishing threaten marine life populations; groundwater contamination limits potable water supply; growing urban industrialization and population migration are rapidly degrading environment in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City |
Environment - international agreements:
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party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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extending 1,650 km north to south, the country is only 50 km across at its narrowest point |
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Population |
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84,402,966 (July 2006 est.) |
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0-14 years: 27% (male 11,826,457/female 10,983,069)
15-64 years: 67.1% (male 28,055,941/female 28,614,553)
65 years and over: 5.8% (male 1,924,562/female 2,998,384) (2006 est.) |
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total: 25.9 years
male: 24.8 years
female: 27.1 years (2006 est.) |
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1.02% (2006 est.) |
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16.86 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
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6.22 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
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-0.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
Sex ratio |
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at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.08 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.64 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2006 est.) |
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total: 25.14 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 25.54 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 24.72 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.) |
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total population: 70.85 years
male: 68.05 years
female: 73.85 years (2006 est.) |
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1.91 children born/woman (2006 est.) |
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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0.4% (2003 est.) |
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
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220,000 (2003 est.) |
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9,000 (2003 est.) |
Major infectious diseases
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degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and plague are high risks in some locations
animal contact disease: rabies
water contact disease: leptospirosis
note: at present, H5N1 avian influenza poses a minimal risk; during outbreaks among birds, rare cases could occur among US personnel who have close contact with infected birds or poultry (2005) |
Nationality |
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noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural)
adjective: Vietnamese |
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Kinh (Viet) 86.2%, Tay 1.9%, Thai 1.7%, Muong 1.5%, Khome 1.4%, Hoa 1.1%, Nun 1.1%, Hmong 1%, others 4.1% (1999 census) |
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Buddhist 9.3%, Catholic 6.7%, Hoa Hao 1.5%, Cao Dai 1.1%, Protestant 0.5%, Muslim 0.1%, none 80.8% (1999 census) |
Languages |
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Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
Literacy |
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definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 90.3%
male: 93.9%
female: 86.9% (2002) |