Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia

Country Name: conventional long form: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
conventional short form: Vietnam
local short form: Viet Nam
abbreviation: SRV
local long form: Công Hòa Xã Hôi Chu Nghia Viêt Nam

Nationality: noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural)
adjective: Vietnamese

Capital: Hanoi
Flag Description: The Vietnamese flag consists of a yellow star in the center of a red background. The five points on the star symbolize: farmers, workers, intellectuals, youth and soldiers. The five points can also be related back to French colonial occupation, representing the five protectorates of the Union of French Indochina: Tonkin, Annam, Cochinchina, Cambodia, and Laos. The red background symbolizes the blood from the violence in the class struggle between the working class and upper class. (http://www.geocities.com/vietnamrp/extra.htm)
Note: In the United States, especially, it is quite common to see the flag of the former South Vietnam (yellow with three narrow horizontal red stripes) on display. This flag will cause offense to Vietnamese authorities and should not be confused with the flag of modern Vietnam. (http://www.flags.net/VIET.htm)
Government Type: Communist state

Administrative Divisions: 58 provinces (tinh, singular and plural), and 3 municipalities* (thu do, singular and plural); An Giang, Bac Giang, Bac Kan, Bac Lieu, Bac Ninh, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Ben Tre, Binh Dinh, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Binh Thuan, Ca Mau, Can Tho, Cao Bang, Dac Lak, Da Nang, Dong Nai, Dong Thap, Gia Lai, Ha Giang, Hai Duong, Hai Phong*, Ha Nam, Ha Noi*, Ha Tay, Ha Tinh, Hoa Binh, Ho Chi Minh*, Hung Yen, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Kon Tum, Lai Chau, Lam Dong, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Long An, Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Ninh Thuan, Phu Tho, Phu Yen, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Quang Ninh, Quang Tri, Soc Trang, Son La, Tay Ninh, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Long, Vinh Phuc, Yen Bai

Independence: September 2, 1945 (from France)
Language: Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
Ethnic Groups: Viet 85%-90%, Chinese, Hmong, Thai, Khmer, Cham, mountain groups

Religion: Buddhist (Mahayana), Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, Christian (predominantly Roman Catholic, some Protestant), indigenous beliefs, Muslim
Population: 81,098,416 (July 2002 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 1.43% (2002 est.)
Age Structure: 0-14 years: 31.6% (male 13,259,152; female 12,392,089)
15-64 years: 62.9% (male 24,938,098; female 26,083,681)
65 years and over: 5.5% (male 1,749,531; female 2,675,865) (2002 est.)
Life Expectancy: male: 67 years; female: 73 years (2002 est.)

Literacy rate: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 93.7%; male: 96.5%; female: 91.2% (1995 est.)

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): $168.1 billion (2001 est.)

Currency: dong (VND; 15,085VND=1USD)

Area: 127,248 sq. miles (Slightly larger than New Mexico)

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

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

Natural Resources: phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas
deposits, forests, hydropower