Vietnam

Country Profile

Picture Source: cia.gov & reliefweb.int                

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is in Southeast Asia, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia.  In 2002 there were approximately 81.1 million people with a population growth rate around 1.8%.  The Vietnamese represent 85%-90% of the population. Vietnam's largest minority group is ethnic Chinese (3%), concentrated mostly in southern Vietnam.  They have long held a vital role in the Vietnamese economy engaging in areas such as rice trading, milling, real estate, and banking, shop keeping, stevedoring, and mining.  The official language is Vietnamese but English is fast becoming a favorite second language.

Vietnam has been shaped by long running and varied conflict.  The Chinese ruled Vietnam for around 1,000 years.  The French took over the rule of Vietnam starting in 1858 until 1954, when they were defeated by communist forces in the North. On October 26, 1955 Vietnam declared itself an independent state.  “After 1954, North Vietnamese communist leaders consolidated their power and instituted a harsh agrarian reform and socialization program. In the late 1950s, they reactivated the network of communist guerillas that had remained behind in the south. These forces--commonly known as the Viet Cong--aided covertly by the north, started an armed campaign against officials and villagers who refused to support the communist reunification cause.”   Beginning in the early 1960’s the United States began providing military assistance to Vietnam in as part of the Cold War effort, to combat communism.  US economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the government.   US armed forces were withdrawn following a cease-fire agreement and the signing of a peace agreement, the Paris Accords, on January 27, 1973. In early 1975, North Vietnamese regular military forces began a major offensive in the south. The communists took Saigon on April 30, 1975, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (north) absorbed the former Republic of Vietnam (south) to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on July 2, 1976.

Today Vietnam is a communist state with 58 administrative provinces. “A new state constitution was approved in April 1992, reaffirming the central role of the Communist Party in politics and society, and outlining government reorganization and increased economic freedom. Though Vietnam remains a one-party state, adherence to ideological orthodoxy has become less important than economic development as a national priority.”  The 1992 constitution also created the executive positions of president and prime minister.  The prime minister heads a cabinet that is composed of four deputy prime ministers and the heads of 31 ministries. The National Assembly is the highest representative body of the people and the only organization with legislative powers. It has a broad mandate to oversee all government functions. Previously viewed as little more than a formality, the National Assembly has become more vocal and assertive in exercising its authority over lawmaking, particularly in the recent years.

Vietnam is a poor, densely populated country that has had to recover from the ravages of war, the loss of financial support from the old Soviet Bloc, and the rigidities of a centrally planned economy. Economic stagnation marked the period after reunification from 1975 to 1985. In 1986 a broad economic reform package was introduced.  Substantial progress was achieved from 1986 to 1996 in moving forward from an extremely low starting point - growth averaged around 9% per year from 1993 to 1997.  The economic progress has slowed in the late 1990’s and it continues through a slow-paced reform.

“Education is an important part of the Vietnamese society. It is a major preoccupation of government and is a highly valued and respected activity in Vietnamese society. The Vietnam education and training sector is large, present in almost every village and touches virtually every family.   During the 1990’s government spending on Education increased (approximately 3% of the GDP in 1997) and the government pledged to increase spending on education by the year 2000. A second major change during the 1990s has been the elimination of many regulations restricting or proscribing the private sector's role in education and training. New decrees and resolutions have been passed that encourage the private sector's expansion. A third and related policy change has been to allow public institutions to levy tuition fees, though only within rather strict limits, and to charge for other goods and services sold to the public.” (9) 

In 1990 two administrative educational bodies combined to form a single Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) which assumed the responsibility for all education and training at the national level.  Presently the management and financing of education is in the process of being decentralized, both vertically and horizontally.  There is also a move towards privatization of education as well.

There are very high overall literacy rates with little disparity between males and females (95% and 91% respectively). Primary schools enjoy high enrollments in Vietnam today, dropping off in secondary school.  Although there is little disparity in access to education for males and females, wide regional differences do exist.  The Northern provinces have at least double the literacy rates for men than for women.

Health services in Vietnam follow a four-tiered organizational flow.  At the top there is the Ministry of Health, which is the national authority and formulates and executes the health policy and programs.  The second tier is composed of 61 Provincial Health Bureaus. “The provincial health bureaus have to follow the Ministry of Health policies, but are in fact an organic unit of the provincial local governments under the Provincial People's Committees (PPC)”. (10)  The third tier is composed of District Health Centers and is in charge of the health management in their respective districts.  The fourth and final level of health care is composed of a total of 9,806 commune health centers engaging in primary health care services.

The average life expectancy in Vietnam is 72 years for women and 67 years for men.  The IMR in 1998 was 34 deaths/1,000 live births and the MMR in 1990 was 160 deaths/100,000 live births.  Immunization rates are generally high.

“In Vietnam the nutritional status of children is poor and this country has the highest malnutrition rate among the countries in the region. The prevalence of underweight among children under 5 years of age is 40%, that of stunting is 36% and that of wasting is 10% according to WHO criteria these rates indicate public health problems. In Viet Nam adults are also affected by malnutrition as indicated by the prevalence of individuals with a BMI under 18.5 kg/m2 which is of 40% for both men and women.

Vitamin A deficiency is no longer a public health problem. A great success was also achieved in controlling of Iodine Deficiency Disorders through Universal Iodization Salt. Nevertheless, Iron Deficiency Anemia is still a burden that effects a large segment of population: 45% of children under 5 years of age, 40% of non-pregnant women and 53% pregnant women are anemic.” (5)

An amazing 66% of total daily caloric intake comes from rice.  Only approximately 10% of calories consumed come from animal sources and the total daily caloric consumption has remained relatively stable for the past two decades.  There has only been about a 400 calorie increase from 1980 to 1999.

1.  http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbpyr.html 

2.  http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/report/ 

3.  http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html 

4.  http://www.measuredhs.com/data/indicators 

5.  http://apps.fao.org/page/collections?subset=nutrition 

6.  http://genderstats.worldbank.org 

7.  http://www.undp.org/hdr2002/indicator/ 

8.  http://www.state.gov 

9. http://www.wes.org/ewenr/00may/feature.htm 

10. http://www.worldbank.org.vn/data_pub/reports/bank1/rep25/toc.htm