Vietnam

broadcast stations: AM NA, FM 228, shortwave 0 radios: 7 million (1991)

NA telephones; 2 telephones/1,000 persons; the inadequacies of the obsolete switching equipment and cable system are a serious constraint on the business sector and on economic growth, and restrict access to the international links that Vietnam has established with most major countries; the telephone system is not generally available for private use local: NA intercity: NA international: 3 satellite earth stations

broadcast stations: 36 (repeaters 77) televisions: 2.5 million (1991)

People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; includes Ground forces, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), and Air Force

exchange rate conversion - $435 million, 2.5% of GDP (1994) VIRGIN ISLANDS (territory of the US)

males age 15-49 18,799,370; males fit for military service 11,913,116; males reach military age (17) annually 742,394 (1995 est.)

accounts for 36% of GDP; paddy rice, corn, potatoes make up 50% of farm output; commercial crops (rubber, soybeans, coffee, tea, bananas) and animal products 50%; since 1989 self-sufficient in food staple rice; fish catch of 943,100 metric tons (1989 est.); note - the third largest exporter of rice in the World, behind the US and Thailand

revenues: $3.6 billion expenditures: $4.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1994 est.)

1 new dong (D) = 100 xu

recipient: $2 billion in credits and grants pledged by international donors for 1995, Japan largest contributor with $650 million pledged for 1995

capacity: 2,200,000 kW production: 9.7 billion kWh consumption per capita: 125 kWh (1993)

new dong (D) per US$1 - 11,000 (October 1994), 10,800 (November 1993), 8,100 (July 1991), 7,280 (December 1990), 3,996 (March 1990)

$3.6 billion (f.o.b., 1994 est.) commodities: petroleum, rice, agricultural products, marine products, coffee partners: Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, South Korea

$4 billion Western countries; $4.5 billion CEMA debts primarily to Russia;

calendar year

opium producer and increasingly important transit point for Southeast Asian heroin destined for the US and Europe; growing opium addiction; small-scale heroin producer

$4.2 billion (f.o.b., 1994 est.) commodities: petroleum products, machinery and equipment, steel products, fertilizer, raw cotton, grain partners: Singapore, Japan, South Korea, France, Hong Kong, Taiwan

growth rate 13% (1994 est.); accounts for 21% of GDP

food processing, textiles, machine building, mining, cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil

14.4% (1994)

GDP - purchasing power parity - $83.5 billion (1994 est.)

$1,140 (1994 est.)

8.8% (1994 est.)

Vietnam has made significant progress in recent years moving away from the planned economic model toward a more effective market-based economic system. Most prices are now fully decontrolled, and the Vietnamese currency has been effectively devalued and floated at world market rates. In addition, the scope for private sector activity has been expanded, primarily through decollectivization of the agricultural sector and introduction of laws giving legal recognition to private business. Nearly three-quarters of export earnings are generated by only two commodities, rice and crude oil. Led by industry and construction, the economy did well in 1993 and 1994 with output rising 7% and 9% respectively. However, the industrial sector remains burdened by noncompetitive state-owned enterprises the government is unwilling or unable to privatize. Unemployment looms as a serious problem with roughly 20% of the work force without jobs and with population growth swelling the ranks of the labor force yearly.

20% (1994 est.)

total area: 329,560 sq km land area: 325,360 sq km comparative area: slightly larger than New Mexico

tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (mid-May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-October to mid-March)

3,444 km (excludes islands)

current issues: logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices are contributing to deforestation; soil degradation; water pollution and overfishing threatening marine life populations; inadequate supplies of potable water because of groundwater contamination natural hazards: occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified - Nuclear Test Ban

maritime boundary with Cambodia not defined; involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and possibly Brunei; unresolved maritime boundary with Thailand; maritime boundary dispute with China in the Gulf of Tonkin; Paracel Islands occupied by China but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan

18,300 sq km (1989 est.)

total 3,818 km, Cambodia 982 km, China 1,281 km, Laos 1,555 km

arable land: 22% permanent crops: 2% meadows and pastures: 1% forest and woodland: 40% other: 35%

Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, between China and Cambodia

Southeast Asia

contiguous zone: 24 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm

phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil deposits, forests

low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest

SRV

50 provinces (tinh, singular and plural), 3 municipalities* (thu do, singular and plural); An Giang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Bac Thai, Ben Tre, Binh Dinh, Binh Thuan, Can Tho, Cao Bang, Dac Lac, Dong Nai, Dong Thap, Gia Lai, Ha Bac, Ha Giang, Ha Noi*, Ha Tay, Ha Tinh, Hai Hung, Hai Phong*, Ho Chi Minh*, Hoa Binh, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Kon Tum, Lai Chau, Lam Dong, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Long An, Minh Hai, Nam Ha, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Ninh Thuan, Phu Yen, Quang Binh, Quang Nam-Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Quang Ninh, Quang Tri, Soc Trang, Son La, Song Be, Tay Ninh, Thai Binh, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Long, Vinh Phu, Yen Bai

Hanoi

15 April 1992

VM

chief of mission: Liaison Officer Le Van BANG liaison office: address NA, Washington, DC mailing address: NA telephone: NA

chief of state: President Le Duc ANH (since 23 September 1992) head of government: Prime Minister Vo Van KIET (since 9 August 1991); First Deputy Prime Minister Phan Van KHAI (since 10 August 1991); Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen KHANH (since NA February 1987); Deputy Prime Minister Tran Duc LUONG (since NA February 1987) cabinet: Cabinet; appointed by the president on proposal of the prime minister and ratification of the Assembly

NA note: negotiations between representatives of the US and Vietnam concluded 28 January 1995 with the signing of an agreement to establish liaison offices in Hanoi and Washington

NA note: negotiations between representatives of the US and Vietnam concluded 28 January 1995 with the signing of an agreement to establish liaison offices in Hanoi and Washington

red with a large yellow five-pointed star in the center

2 September 1945 (from France)

Supreme People's Court

based on Communist legal theory and French civil law system

unicameral

ACCT, AsDB, ASEAN (observer), CCC, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

conventional long form: Socialist Republic of Vietnam conventional short form: Vietnam local long form: Cong Hoa Chu Nghia Viet Nam local short form: Viet Nam

elections last held 19 July 1992 (next to be held NA July 1997); results - VCP is the only party; seats - (395 total) VCP or VCP-approved 395

Independence Day, 2 September (1945)

only party - Vietnam Communist Party (VCP), DO MUOI, general secretary

18 years of age; universal

Communist state

chief of mission: Liaison Officer James HALL liaison office: address NA, Hanoi mailing address: NA telephone: NA

0-14 years: 36% (female 13,225,916; male 13,918,321) 15-64 years: 59% (female 22,353,710; male 21,223,739) 65 years and over: 5% (female 2,236,453; male 1,435,185) (July 1995 est.)

26.25 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

7.6 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Vietnamese 85%-90%, Chinese 3%, Muong, Thai, Meo, Khmer, Man, Cham

44.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

32.7 million by occupation: agricultural 65%, industrial and service 35% (1990 est.)

Vietnamese (official), French, Chinese, English, Khmer, tribal languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)

total population: 65.72 years male: 63.66 years female: 67.91 years (1995 est.)

age 15 and over can read and write (1989) total population: 88% male: 93% female: 83%

noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural) adjective: Vietnamese

-1.51 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

74,393,324 (July 1995 est.)

1.71% (1995 est.)

Buddhist, Taoist, Roman Catholic, indigenous beliefs, Islam, Protestant

3.21 children born/woman (1995 est.)

total: 48 with paved runways over 3,047 m: 8 with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 13 with paved runways under 914 m: 7 with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 2 with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 5 with unpaved runways under 914 m: 5

total: 85,000 km paved: 9,400 km unpaved: gravel, improved earth 48,700 km; unimproved earth 26,900 km

17,702 km navigable; more than 5,149 km navigable at all times by vessels up to 1.8 meter draft

total: 109 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 449,963 GRT/932,837 DWT ships by type: bulk 3, cargo 92, oil tanker 10, refrigerated cargo 3, roll-on/roll-off cargo 1

petroleum products 150 km

Da Nang, Haiphong, Ho Chi Minh City, Hon Gai, Qui Nhon, Nha Trang

total: 3,059 km (including 224 km not restored to service after war damage) standard gauge: 151 km 1.435-m gauge narrow gauge: 2,454 km 1.000-m gauge other gauge: 230 km NA-m dual gauge (three rails)