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opulation: 73,811,000 people (1995 estimate)P
opulation Density: 224 persons/sq km or 580 persons/sq mile(1995 estimate ).E
thnic Groups: 88% Vietnamese (Kinh). 12% Others(including Chinese(Hoa) Thai, Khmer, Tai, Muong, and Nung.L
anguages: Official Language : Vietnamese, Other Languages: Khmer, Montagnard, Cham, and Other minority languages: English, French.R
eligions: 55% Buddhism 45% Others (including Roman Catholicism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hoa Hao, and Caodai.V
ietnam lies on the eastern seaboard of the Indochinese peninsula. It borders China in the North, Laos and Cambodia< in the West, and look out on the East Sea (Pacific Ocean) in the East and the South.It is essentially a tropical country with a humid monsoon climate. Annual means temperature is over 20 Degree C throughout the country. On the average. It receives more than 1,500 mm of rainfall a year in the plains and 2,000 - 3,000 mm on the mountain. Yearly mean relative humidity exceeds 80% or even 90% in the rainy season.
The dry season lasts from November to April, the West season from May to October. In the North, the dry season is cool. Sometimes the North has a harsh winter.
R
ivers are abundant. The Red River and the Mekong River, The biggest ones, discharge respectively 122,109 cubic meters and 1,400,109 cubic meters.M
ountains and Hills cover four-fifths of the territory (highest peak: Fansipan 3,142m). Stretching over 1,400km from North to South, the mountain system runs from the northwestern border to Southeastern.T
he alluvial plains, flat, and low are very populous: Red River delta (15,000 sp.km with 3,000-km long dyke network) Mekong River delta (22,000 sp.km)M
inerals: coal, iron, aluminum, tin, appetite, and oil...A
gricultural and Forestry products: rice, maize, sweet potatoes, pea-nuts, Soya, industrial crops (rubber, lacquer, coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, coconut, sugar cane, jute...)T
ropical, subtropical and temperature fruits: banana, Logan, litchi, mango, mangosteen, pineapple, orange, tangerine, plum, pear, peach.... The forests contain valuable species for timber, oil or resin-bearing trees and medicinal plants.The big cities are HaNoi, HaiPhong, Hue, DaNang , NhaTrang, PhanThiet, SaiGon, VungTau...