The 85 million people of Vietnam have suffered through war, poverty and one of the world’s last communist governments. Life in this small Asian country is hard and much like it has been for hundreds of years. But the country also has resources and hard working people which may someday help it to improve.

Economy

The Vietnam War, and the communism that has been there ever since, have hurt the Vietnamese economy. The economy is based on agriculture-about 70% of all workers in Vietnam are farmers. Some of the chief products in Vietnam are rice, cement, fertilizer, and paper products. Vietnam’s communist economy means that the government owns most means of production. Government-controlled production prevents the Vietnamese from participating in the industrial and technological progress that has gone on in the rest of Asia and the globe. And even though Vietnam is still poor the people have to support their communist government and military.

Location

Vietnam is located on the eastern margin of the Indochinese peninsula and occupies about 331,688 square kilometers. This is similar in size to New Mexico. Vietnam has many natural resources. They include coal, gas, and hydropower. However most of the land is used for farming.

Culture

Much of the population of Vietnam moved there over thousands of years from islands to the north. More recently a lot of the people have left Vietnam. Boat people’ migrated to the United States during and after the Vietnam War to escape communism. People who leave have to learn new languages because in Vietnam they have their own language called Vietnamese. However, they also have a lot in common with the rest of the world. Soccer, which they call football, is the most popular sport in Vietnam as in many other countries. Vietnamese cuisine uses very little oil and lots of vegetables. The dishes are manly based on fish sauce, rice sauce, and rice. Its characteristics are sweet, spicy, sour, and are flavored by mint and basil. Traditional Vietnamese dance includes a few different forms. Dances in theatre and opera, Dances at festivals.

Future

Vietnam has had many difficult times in the past and will probably have more because they do not have a democracy yet. Farming is important, but if most of the people in the country are farmers then the country will not become wealthy very quickly. Vietnam needs to make changes so that the people will be happier and not as many will leave.