General

AREA: 331,114 sq km (127,844 sq miles).

POPULATION: 75,355,200 (official estimate 1996).

POPULATION DENSITY: 227.6 per sq km.

CAPITAL: Hanoi. Population: 2,154,).

GEOGRAPHY: Vietnam shares borders to the north with the People's Republic of China and to the west with Laos and Cambodia. The South China Sea lies to the east and south. The land is principally agricultural with a central tropical rainforest.

LANGUAGE: Vietnamese is the official language. English, French, Chinese and occasionally Russian and German are spoken.

RELIGION: Buddhist majority. There are Taoist, Confucian, Hoa Hao, Caodaist and Christian (predominantly Roman Catholic) minorities.

TIME: GMT + 7.

ELECTRICITY: 220 volts AC, 50Hz.

COMMUNICATIONS: Telephone: IDD is available. Country code: 84. Fax: Available in most major offices. Telegram: Facilities are available in most towns. Post: Postal services can be slow. Airmail to Europe can take up to three weeks. Press: Daily and weekly newspapers in Vietnam include Hanoi Moi and Nhan Dan ('The People'). The Vietnam Economic Times, Vietnam Investment Review, Saigon Times, Vietnam News and Vietnam Courier are published in English.

BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change.

BBC:

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Voice of America:

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