INTRODUCTION TO VIETNAM

Vietnam, properly known as The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a country in Southeast Asia. It is an "S" shaped country covering an area of 331,699 sq km.

POPULATION

Vietnam has a population of 103.8 million, of which around 80% are ethnic Kinh Vietnamese. The remaining 20% is made up of some 54 officially recognised ethnic groups, including the the Hmong, Dao, Tày, Thái and Nùng people. These minority groups live predominantly in the highland areas of North and Central Vietnam.

POLITICS

Vietnam is a one-party Communist state and has been since the unification of North and South in 1975, when the Communist north took control of the south. Whilst it has a ceremonial position of Prime Minister (which currently sits unfilled), true power in Vietnam lies in the hands of the General Secretary of the Communist Party, which has been Nguyen Phu Trọng since 2011.

LANGUAGE

The official language of Vietnam is Vietnamese, a language developed with influences from Chinese, other local minorities and Roman languages (for written Vietnamese). Many older Vietnamese also speak French as a second language, a remnant of French Colonial days. Others include Chinese, English and Russian.