Vietnam at a glance

Located in Southeast Asia, Vietnam covers a total land area of 329,314 square kilometers and has a coastline of approximately 3,200 kilometers.

According to the 2009 national census, the total population was estimated at 85.85 million, with women accounting for 50.60% of the total. In Vietnam, the SRB rose from 106.2 boys per 100 girls in 2000 to 112.3 boys per 100 girls in 2012 and this sharp trend continues to rise. SRB imbalance is largely caused by favouring sons and placing lower values on girls. Vietnam’s average annual population growth rate was 1.2% between 1999 and 2009, down from 1.7% in the previous 10 years.  The urban population now accounts for about 29.6% of the total and between 1999 and 2009 the average annual growth rate of the urban population was 3.4% per year , mainly due to migration. (Vietnam General Statistics Office 2010, United Nations 2010)

Vietnam has 64 cities and provinces. Ha Noi in the north is the capital city with the population of approximately 6.45 million people while Ho Chi Minh City in the south is the largest urban area, with a population estimated at 7.16 million. There are an 54 different ethnic groups living across Vietnam.