Country

Vietnam

Also Known As Socialist Republic of Vietnam

South-eastern Asia

Vietnam is a long, S-shaped country on the eastern coast of mainland Southeast Asia, stretching from the mountainous Chinese border in the north to the Mekong Delta in the south, with a coastline facing the South China Sea for nearly its entire length. Colonized by France in the nineteenth century as part of French Indochina, it was proclaimed independent by Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh coalition after the Japanese surrender in 1945, then divided at the 17th parallel through the First Indochina War and reunified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976 after the Vietnam War. Its capital, Hanoi, sits in the Red River Delta in the north; its largest city, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), anchors the Mekong Delta region in the south.

Facts

Capital

Hanoi 2

Population

103,439,000 2

Britannica 2026 estimate.

Population Estimate Year

2026 2

Area (sq km)

331,338 2

Independence or Founding Year

1945 2

Independence from France was proclaimed in 1945 after the Japanese surrender; the present unified state, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, dates from reunification on 2 July 1976 after the Vietnam War. 1945 is recorded here as the founding proclamation, not the later reunification.

Classification

Sovereignty Status

UN Member State 1

Learn More

Two Independence Days

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

Vietnam's own independence-year fact on this atlas carries two dates in one note, and the gap between them is most of the country's twentieth century. Ho Chi Minh proclaimed independence in Hanoi in September 1945, days after Japan's surrender ended its wartime occupation, but the proclamation did not end French colonial claims to Indochina, and the First Indochina War that followed ran until 1954, splitting the country at the 17th parallel into a communist north and an American-backed south. The Vietnam War filled the two decades after that, and only with the fall of Saigon in 1975 and formal reunification on 2 July 1976 did the Socialist Republic of Vietnam become the single state whose capital, population and borders this atlas records today. Reading 1945 alone would miss thirty years of division; reading 1976 alone would miss the proclamation the current state still traces its legitimacy to. Both dates are true, and neither one alone tells the story.

A Country Shaped Like a River System

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

Vietnam's long S-curve down the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia is really a story about two deltas joined by a narrow spine. The Red River Delta in the north, where Hanoi sits, and the Mekong Delta in the south, where Ho Chi Minh City anchors a vastly larger and flatter plain, are the country's two demographic and agricultural centers, each built by a different river system draining a different set of mountains. Between them runs a long, narrow, mountainous waist where the country is, at its thinnest, barely thirty miles wide, coastline on one side and the Annamite mountain spine dividing Vietnam from Laos on the other. That geography shaped the country's history as much as any war did: a north and a south with genuinely different rivers, soils and growing seasons, connected by a coastal corridor too narrow and too mountainous to unite them easily, which is part of why division along the 17th parallel found such a natural line to follow when it came.

Vietnam

FAQs

How much did Vietnam's population grow between its last two censuses?

Up 12.1 percent, from 85.85 million in 2009 to 96.21 million in 2019.

Vietnam's total population grew by 12.1 percent between the 2009 and 2019 censuses, from 85.85 million to 96.21 million. The 2019 census results were first published as preliminary figures, and the final release showed no difference in the total.

Is Vietnam's urban population growing faster than its total population?

Yes, 30 percent from 2009 to 2019, against 12.1 percent for the whole country.

Yes. Between the 2009 and 2019 censuses Vietnam's urban population grew by 30 percent, from 25.44 million to 33.06 million, while the total population grew by 12.1 percent. That urban growth is why many towns on the outskirts of major cities are listed with higher population figures, for example around Ho Chi Minh City.

Connections

Associated With

Ban Gioc-Detian Falls

China

This source names China directly: "with a coastline facing the South China Sea for nearly its entire length."

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Da Nang

Source Da Nang (Wikipedia)

Hanoi

Hanoi is Vietnam's capital.

Source Hanoi (Wikipedia)

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City is a city in Vietnam.

Source Ho Chi Minh City (Wikipedia)

Indochina

Vietnam is one of the seven countries comprising Mainland Southeast Asia (historically Indochina).

Source Indochina (Wikipedia)

Indochinese Peninsula

Mekong Delta

Mekong River Basin

Southeast Asia

Vietnam is one of the mainland states of the Southeast Asia region.

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Bordered By Water

Has Capital

Hanoi

Hanoi is Vietnam's capital.

Source Hanoi (Wikipedia)

Long-Form Articles

A Country Shaped Like a River System

Two Independence Days

Rivers Through Territory

Red River (Vietnam)

In the Other Atlases

Same As

Vietnam

Also in Divinity Atlas: the same subject.

Vietnam

Also in Political Atlas: the same subject.

Governed By

Le Minh Hung Government

Also in Political Atlas: which governs this subject.

Source Le Minh Hung (Wikipedia)tier 2

Nationals Include

Đỗ Quang Em

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Do Quang Em

Nguyen Gia Tri

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: a national of this subject.

Trần Anh Hùng

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a national of this subject.

Bao Ninh

Also in Literature Atlas: a national of this subject.

Dustin Thao

Also in Literature Atlas: a national of this subject.

Nguyễn Du

Also in Literature Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Nguyen Du, Wikipedia

Hải Thượng Lãn Ông

Also in Medicine Atlas: a national of this subject.

Lê Khánh Đồng

Also in Medicine Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Lê Khánh Đồng (Wikipedia)Lead sentence

Quote, Lead sentence

is a Vietnamese medical

Nguyễn Tài Thu

Also in Medicine Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Nguyễn Tài Thu (Wikipedia)Lead sentence

Quote, Lead sentence

was a Vietnamese physician

Ngo Thi Nham

Also in Philosophy Atlas: a national of this subject.

Jane Luu

Also in Science Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Jane Luu (Wikidata)

Ngô Bao Chau

Also in Science Atlas: a national of this subject.

Pham Tuan

Also in Space and Astronomy Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Pham Tuan

J. C. Tran

Also in Sport and Games Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source J. C. Tran (Wikipedia)Lead paragraph

Quote, Lead paragraph

Tran (born Justin Cuong Van Tran January 20, 1977) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player, based in Sacramento, California.

John Phan

Also in Sport and Games Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source John Phan (Wikipedia)Lead, first sentence [nationality]

Quote, Lead, first sentence [nationality]

Vietnamese-American professional poker player

Kenny Tran

Also in Sport and Games Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Kenny Tran (Wikipedia)Lead paragraph

Quote, Lead paragraph

Phuong "Kenny" Tran is a Vietnamese American professional poker player from Arcadia, California who won the 2008 World Series of Poker $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em World Championship.

Origin Of

Vietnamese Architecture

Also in Architecture and Design Atlas: which originated in this subject.

Nguyen Gia Tri

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: which originated in this subject.

Source Getty Research Institute: Union List of Artist Names: Nguyen Gia TriBirth and Death Places

Quote, Birth and Death Places

Born: Hà Đông (Hà Nội, Viet Nam) (inhabited place)

Cyclo

Also in Film and Media Atlas: which originated in this subject.

Napalm Girl

Also in Film and Media Atlas: which originated in this subject.

Saigon Execution

Also in Film and Media Atlas: which originated in this subject.

The Burning Monk

Also in Film and Media Atlas: which originated in this subject.

The Terror of War

Also in Film and Media Atlas: which originated in this subject.

Banh Beo