Economic Vietnam

Vietnam

The purpose of this paper is to describe a brief history of Vietnam’s people and geography as well as some major economic indicators to help better understand the characterization of their people, geography, and economy.

Vietnam is a communist country located in Southeast Asia with a total population of 84,402,966 people. Out of a 1,000 person statistic, the birth rate of Vietnam is 16.86 and their death rate is only 6.22. On average, each woman gives birth (the total fertility rate) to 1.91 children who would later grow up to the average age, or life expectancy, of 70.85 years. As most communist countries, most of their population is able to read and write with a 90% adult literacy rate.

The geography of the country is landlocked to its neighboring countries Cambodia and Laos in the west, and China to the north. The eastern side is coast ridden by the Gulfs of Thailand and Tonkin and the South China Sea. The total area of Vietnam is 329,560 sq km as 325,360 sq km is land and 4,200 sq km is water. Although the country extends 1,650 km from north to south the country is only 50 km across from its narrowest point. As an easy visual aid, Vietnam is slightly larger than the state of New Mexico.

Their climate is tropical in the south and monsoonal in the north with a hot rainy season from May to September and a warm, dry season from October to March. Their terrain is low and flat in the south, central highlands and hilly, and mountainous in the far north. Because of Vietnam’s geography, 20.14% of the land is arable, but only 6.93% of it is for permanent crops. Their natural resources consist of phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests, and hydropower. They have occasional typhoons, which usually last from the months of May to January, with extensive flooding especially in the Mekong River delta.

Environmental issues consist of deforestation and soil degradation due to their logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices. Marine life populations are threatened by water pollution and over fishing. Water supply is affected by ground water contamination. The growth of urban industrialization and the migration of the population are rapidly degrading the environment in places such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Now that we are educated on Vietnam’s geography, let’s shift focus on some economic indicators. Vietnam is a heavily-populated, developing country that

...