HOME | EXPLORE APEC | KID CONNECT | TEACHERS | PARENTS

WHO WE ARE | WHERE WE LIVE | WHAT WE DO | HOW WE'RE GOVERNED
POPULATION | RACE AND ETHNICITY | RELIGION | RESOURCES

Viet Nam


Viet Nam
Click for detailed maps

  • People : The Viet (Kinh) people (87% of the population)

  • Number of Minority Groups : 53

  • Official Language : Vietnamese

  • Largest Minority Group(s) : Tay, Thai, Muong, Hoa, Khmer, Nung (1 million)

    • Viet Nam is a multi-national economy with 54 ethnic groups. The Viet (Kinh) people account for 85% of the country's population and mainly inhabit the Red River delta, the central coastal delta, the Mekong delta and major cities. The other 53 ethnic minority groups, totaling over 8 million people, live throughout the mountain areas (covering two- thirds of the Viet Nam’s territory) spreading from the North to the South. The next largest groups after the Viet people are ethnic Tay and Thai, which account for 1.97% and 1.79% of Viet Nam's population and are concentrated in the northern uplands.
    Table of all ethnic groups

    Vietnamese is the official language of the economy. It is a tonal language with influences from Thai, Khmer, and Chinese. ..continue

    In a country with a large ethnic Chinese population, why do you think many Chinese left Vietnam in the late 1970s?

    Viet Nam's approximately 2.3 million ethnic Chinese, concentrated mostly in southern Viet Nam, are its largest minority group. Important in the Vietnamese economy, Vietnamese of Chinese ancestry have been active in rice trading, milling, real estate, and banking in the south and shop keeping and mining in the north. Restrictions on economic activity following reunification of the north and south in 1975 and the subsequent deterioration in Chinese-Vietnamese relations sent chills through the Chinese-Vietnamese community. In 1978 and 1979, some 450,000 ethnic Chinese left Viet Nam by boat as refugees (many officially encouraged and assisted) or were expelled across the border with China. ..continue


    International Children's Digital Library
    ECON BRAIN BUSTER
    Fun games to quiz your Econ knowledge!
    KID CONNECT
    See kids projects and check out the language lab
    IN THE CLASSROOM
    TEACHERS: Get your class involved in fun
    projects that build cross-cultural understanding!
    About APEC - Australia - Brunei Darussalam - Canada - Chile - China - Chinese Taipei - Hong Kong, China - Indonesia - Japan - Korea - Malaysia - Mexico - New Zealand - Papua New Guinea - Peru - Philippines - Russia - Singapore - Thailand - United States - Viet Nam
    Please contact us with any comments or questions