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;

Exclusive 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; unresolved maritime boundary with
Thailand; maritime boundary dispute with China in the Gulf of Tonkin;
Paracel Islands occupied by China but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan;
unresolved maritime boundary with Thailand

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

_#_Environment: occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive
flooding

_*_People
_#_Population: 67,568,033 (July 1991), growth rate 2.1% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 29 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: - 1 migrant/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 48 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 63 years male, 67 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 3.7 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Vietnamese (sing. and pl.);
adjective--Vietnamese

_#_Ethnic divisions: predominantly Vietnamese 85-90%; Chinese 3%;
ethnic minorities include Muong, Thai, Meo, Khmer, Man, Cham; other
mountain tribes

_#_Religion: Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Roman Catholic, indigenous
beliefs, Islamic, Protestant

_#_Language: Vietnamese (official), French, Chinese, English, Khmer,
tribal languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)

_#_Literacy: 88% (male 92%, female 84%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 es