Population of Vietnam

Vietnam is a multi-nations country, which is home to the people of about different 54 nations. However, about 90% of the population is Vietnamese but there are a large number of ethnic minorities. The remaining 10% of the Vietnam Population constitutes of the various ethnic groups that include approximately 1.2 million Chinese.

Spread over an area of about 331,690 sq.kms Vietnam has a population of more than 83, 535, 576 people. Vietnam has a rapid population growth, the average growth rate of Vietnam's population id 2.23 %. Owing to its rapid population growth many fear that it has started becoming an obstacle in the development of the country. In order to reduce the risk of population growth overcoming the food production, the Vietnamese government has launched a 20-year crash plan of reducing fertility rate from the present 3.7 children per woman to a level of 2 per woman.

According to a census conducted in1985, the average population density was 179 persons per square kilometer. The most densely settled region in Vietnam is the Red River Delta region that recorded more than 75 % of the population of North Vietnam. Another major populated region is the Mekong River Delta region in Vietnam that comprises nearly half of the southern population.

Vietnamese have a mixed feelings about the birth control and sex education, it was noticed that majority of women married before the age of 20 in Vietnam. Resulting in a high birth rate, with a woman on an average bearing four or more than four children. However, later the legal marriage age for women was set at 22 but this law met serious opposition. As the Vietnamese believed in "falling in love early and getting married early".

The official language of VietNam is Vietnamese. A tonal, monosyllabic language, Vietnamese is written using a Roman script with added diacritical markings which was originally devised by French Jesuit missionary Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660). Many of the country's 54 ethnic groups have their own distinct languages, though only a few of the ethnic minority languages have their own script.

The use of English is rapidly becoming widespread throughout the country and is expected to increase because it is the language employed within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). French and Chinese are currently enjoying something of a revival, while some Russian and other East European languages are still spoken amongst the older generation.

Economy
At the 6th Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party in December 1986 the Vietnamese Government launched a bold new policy of social, economic and political reform under the rubric of aimed at transforming the old command economy into a market-based one. Since that time free enterprise has been encouraged and foreign investment and dollar-spending tourists welcomed.

Decades of war and suffering had left VietNam in poor economic shape, but reformist economic policies introduced after 1986 stimulated a period of rapid economic growth, attracting over US$30 billion of cumulative authorised foreign investment during the decade prior to 1998. Despite the negative effects of the recent South East Asian economic crisis and the devastation caused by frequent floods, annual growth rates have remained in the region of 6-9 per cent for the past few years. VietNam is still one of the poorest countries in Asia, with an estimated per capita income of less than US$300 per annum, but average annual inflation has fallen sharply and the economic outlook is now encouraging.

Agriculture remains the primary activity, employing more than half of the labour force. Rice, corn and potatoes make up 50 per cent of farm output; commercial crops (rubber, soya beans, coffee, tea and bananas) and animal products make up the other 50 per cent.

As a direct result of economic reforms, Việt Nam moved from being a rice importer in the mid-1980s to become in 1997 the world's second largest exporter of rice after Thailand. Major industries which have flourished since the lifting of the US trade embargo in 1994 include food processing, machine building, mining and production of oil, cement, chemical fertiliser, glass, tyres, textiles, footware and ceramics. Private enterprise is now officially encouraged and at the time of writing it is estimated that over 70 per cent of domestic trade can be attributed to the private sector. By the same token all state-owned firms are now required to be profitable in order to stay in business. Generating total revenues of c US$18.5 billion in 2003, Việt Nam's exports include petroleum, coal, rice, agricultural products and marine products.

Imports include petroleum products, machinery and equipment, steel products, fertilizer, raw cotton and grain. The developing tourist industry was hit badly by the regional economic crisis of 1997-8 and more recently by the SARS and bird flu outbreaks of 2003-4, but VietNam has nonetheless managed to weather these storms to emerge as one of South East Asia's fastest-growing tourist destinations. A campaign launched in late 1999 to promote the country as 'A Destination for the New Millennium' helped to generate a steady growth in international arrivals, which totalled 2.6 million during the year 2002; despite the SARS crisis figures for 2003 did not dip below 2.4 million. Domestic tourism is also on the increase, with a total of 13 million in 2003, 15 per cent more than 2000. Revenue from tourism in 2002 was estimated at US$1.52 billion.

In May 2006 VietNam negotiated a bilateral trade agreement with the USA, marking the completion of bilateral negotiations with World Trade Organization (WTO) members the country required to qualify for accession to the organisation. Among other steps taken in the process of transitioning to a market economy, Vietnam in July 2006 updated its intellectual property legislation to comply with TRIPS. VietNam was accepted into membership of the WTO on 7 November 2006.

Education
In comparison with other developing countries, Việt Nam's population enjoys a relatively high standard of education. Whilst Confucian-style higher education in Việt Nam may be traced back to the 11th century, the modern pattern of universal primary, secondary and tertiary education has a relatively short history of development. The 1917 Law on Education passed by the French colonial government abolished the Confucian education system and replaced it with an education system modelled loosely on that of France. However, that new system remained fundamentally elitist, reaching only an estimated three per cent of the indigenous population and functioning primarily as a means of training civil servants for colonial service throughout French Indochina. In the wake of the August Revolution of 1945. Similar reforms were also undertaken between 1945 and 1975 by the Saigon regime.

In the wake of Reunification primary and secondary schools were brought under the control of the Ministry of Education and Training, whilst colleges and universities were brought under the management of the Ministry of Higher Education; since that time a series of further measures have been enacted by central government in conjunction with provincial and municipal authorities to create a fully-integrated national education system.

once, so students attend in shifts at different times of the day. The school week runs from Monday to Saturday. All children are encouraged to finish secondary school.

In addition to general secondary schools, Việt Nam also has just under 300 secondary vocational schools which allow specialisation in such fields as industry, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, economics, teacher training, medicine, gymnastics and sports and culture and arts.

In my opion. Economic of Vietnam is effected by the economic of the world. So The Government must continue to tighten fiscal policy and monetary, to make macroeconomic stability, and control inflation.  The management of the state is not directly intervene in the operation of financial markets, credit, stock market, which focus on inspecting and supervising the financial system, credit, bank goods and improve the efficiency and competitiveness of enterprises.Improvving efficiency of investment capital, adjust investment structure, and avoiding overlapping in projects not effective. Continue to strengthen the legal, compliance, ensure effective law enforcement contribute to the promotion of business, and make the market mechanisms to develop healthly.

Đinh, Văn Ân At head of title: Central Institute for Economic Management. Hanoi : Statistical publisher, 2003.

Frederic S. Mishkin The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Market (7th Edition)