ine coaxial cables;
satellite earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 3 domestic

- Defense Forces
Branches: Ground Forces (Army), Naval Forces (Navy, Marines, Coast Guard),
Air Forces, Armed Forces of Cooperation (National Guard)

Military manpower: males 15-49, 5,073,913; 3,680,176 fit for military
service; 211,269 reach military age (18) annually

Defense expenditures: 1.1% of GDP, or $570 million (1990 est.)
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Vietnam
- Geography
Total area: 329,560 km2; land area: 325,360

Comparative area: slightly larger than New Mexico

Land boundaries: 3,818 km total; Cambodia 982 km, China 1,281 km,
Laos 1,555 km

Coastline: 3,444 km (excluding islands)

Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 24 nm;

Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm;

Extended economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: offshore islands and three sections of the boundary with
Cambodia are in dispute; maritime boundary with Cambodia not defined;
occupied Cambodia on 25 December 1978; sporadic border clashes with
China; involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with China,
Malaysia, Philippines, and Taiwan; maritime boundary dispute with China
in the Gulf of Tonkin; Paracel Islands occupied by China but claimed by
Vietnam and Taiwan

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 deposits, forests

Land use: 22% arable land; 2% permanent crops; 1% meadows and pastures;
40% forest and woodland; 35% other; includes 5% irrigated

Environment: occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive
flooding

- People
Population: 66,170,889 (July 1990), growth rate 2.1% (1990)

Birth rate: 30 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: - 1 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 50 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 62 years male, 66 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 3.8 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Vietnamese (sing. and pl.); adjective--Vietnamese

Ethnic divisions: 85-90% predominantly Vietnamese; 3% Chinese; ethnic
m