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Vietnam

Population: 90,388,000 (est.)

Language(s): Vietnamese

Capital: Hanoi

Interesting Facts:

The Vietnamese dong is the official currency of Vietnam.
Vietnam is a heavily non-religious country, with around 80% of the country not following a religion. The rest of the population is mainly split between Buddhism (9.3%) and Catholicism (6.7%).
Vietnam is a densely-populated developing country that has reaffirmed its commitment to economic modernization in recent years.
The economy was traditionally based on agriculture but this has since reduced.
It has an increasing economy with decreasing unemployment and poverty.
Vietnam is a communist state.
One of the delicacies in Vietnam is the Vietnamese Snake Wine, also known as ‘ruou ran’. This is typically made of rice wine with a dead snake floating in it.
The climate of Vietnam varies considerably from region to region. The entire country lies in the tropics and subtropics.
Local conditions vary from icy winters in the far northern hills to year-round, subequatorial warmth in the Mekong Delta.
Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world.
The country used to be separated into North and South Vietnam, until 1976.

Vietnam officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 90.3 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world’s 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as “South Viet”, and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east. Its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976.

The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.

Vietnam was then unified under a Communist government, but was politically isolated and impoverished. In 1986, the government initiated a series of economic and political reforms, which began Vietnam’s path towards integration into the world economy. By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations. Its economic growth has been among the highest in the world since 2000, and according to Citigroup, such high growth is set to continue. Vietnam has the highest Global Growth Generators Index among 11 major economies, and its successful economic reforms resulted in it joining the World Trade Organization in 2007. However, the country still suffers from relatively high levels of income inequality, disparities in healthcare provision, and poor gender equality.

Source: Wikipedia