Demographics of Vietnam


This article is about the demographic features of the population of Vietnam, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Originating in northern Vietnam, the Vietnamese people pushed southward over two millennia to occupy the entire eastern seacoast of the Indochinese Peninsula. Ethnic Vietnamese, or Viet, live in the lowlands and speak the Vietnamese language. This group dominates much of the cultural and political landscape of Vietnam.

Population

UN estimateshttp://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/index.htm [Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision]

Total population Population aged 0–14 Population aged 15–64 Population aged 65+
195028 00031.963.94.2
195531 32935.660.14.3
196035 17340.155.54.4
196539 88544.151.34.6
197044 92844.250.94.8
197549 89642.952.34.8
198054 02340.754.34.9
198560 30739.455.74.9
199067 10238.057.05.0
199574 00836.558.45.1
200079 91031.662.06.4
200583 83327.166.46.5
201087 96823.669.96.5
201592 67723.070.36.7
202097 33923.268.97.9

Population pyramids

Census :
Age groupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total42 413 14343 433 85485 846 997100
0-43 662 8893 371 2557 034 1447.97
5-93 458 1593 252 5786 710 7377.82
10-143 725 3693 523 0097 248 3788.44
15-194 577 9144 385 9888 963 90210.44
20-244 253 6184 179 2498 432 8679.82
25-293 904 7303 885 2737 790 0039.07
30-343 462 9053 405 2536 868 1588.00
35-393 298 2663 233 3416 531 6077.61
40-442 967 9342 998 9225 966 8566.95
45-492 642 4662 808 4625 450 9286.35
50-542 082 0982 329 9534 412 0515.14
55-591 364 3191 620 3002 984 6193.48
60-64861 8971 076 0511 937 9482.26
65-69653 287901 3911 554 6781.81
70-74568 312844 2261 412 5381.65
75-79480 088718 8051 198 8931.40
80-84264 997460 988725 9850.85
85+183 895438 810622 7050.73

Estimates :
Age groupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total44 758 13245 970 80990 728 941100
0-43 806 0553 423 5207 229 5757.97
5-93 730 6173 431 8437 162 4607.89
10-143 555 4403 344 6596 900 0997.61
15-193 580 3223 413 1836 993 5057.71
20-244 058 6913 959 5798 018 2708.84
25-293 951 2203 888 6977 839 9178.64
30-343 689 3953 769 6017 458 9968.22
35-393 390 4623 439 7876 830 2497.53
40-443 292 9333 295 0126 587 9457.26
45-492 980 4423 068 3896 048 8316.67
50-542 699 1652 971 4595 670 6246.25
55-592 096 0322 405 5684 501 6004.96
60-641 376 8611 671 6213 048 4823.36
65-69832 0901 084 8701 916 9602.11
70-74600 732862 1041 462 8361.61
75-79477 293757 2421 234 5351.36
80+640 3821 183 6751 824 0572.01

Vital statistics

UN estimates of births and deaths

Birth, death and fertility rates

The total fertility rate of Vietnam has been influenced by the government's family planning policy, the two-child policy.
Average populationLive birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate Crude death rate Natural change Total fertility rate
200178,620,50018.65.113.52.25
200279,537,70019.05.813.22.28
200380,467,40017.55.811.72.12
200481,436,40019.25.413.82.23
200582,392,10018.65.313.32.11
200683,311,20017.45.312.12.09
200784,218,50016.95.311.62.07
200885,118,70016.75.311.42.08
200986,025,00017.66.810.82.03
201086,932,50017.16.810.32.00
201187,840,0001,443,000599,800843,20016.66.99.71.99
201288,772,9001,484,500621,400863,10016.97.09.92.05
201389,759,5001,513,500621,400892,10017.07.19.92.10
201490,728,9001,525,900619,300906,60017.26.910.32.09
201591,709,80016.26.89.42.10
201692,695,10016.06.89.22.09
201793,677,60014.76.87.92.04
201894,670,00014.66.87.82.05
201996,480,00016.36.310.02.09

Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

Fertility rate by region and province

Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

Ethnic groups

The Vietnamese government recognizes 54 ethnic groups, of which the Viet is the largest; according to official Vietnamese figures, ethnic Vietnamese account for 85.32% of the nation's population and the non-Vietnamese ethnic groups account for the remaining percent. The ethnic Vietnamese inhabit a little less than half of Vietnam, while the ethnic minorities inhabit the majority of Vietnam's land.
The Khmer Krom are found in the delta of the Mekong River, in the south of Vietnam, where they form in many areas the majority of the rural population. They live in an area which was previously part of Cambodia and which Vietnam conquered in the 17th and 18th centuries. Official Vietnamese figures put the Khmer Krom at 1 million people.
Vietnam's approximately 1 million ethnic Chinese, constitute one of Vietnam's largest minority groups. Long important in the Vietnamese economy, Vietnamese of Chinese ancestry have been active in rice trading, milling, real estate, and banking in the south and shopkeeping, stevedoring, and mining in the north.
The relation between China and Vietnam also declined following reunification in 1975, with Vietnam siding with the Soviet Union against China in the Chinese-Soviet split. Tensions peaked when Vietnam invaded Cambodia, an ally of China, to depose Pol Pot, resulting in a Chinese invasion of Vietnam in 1979. In 1978-79, some 450,000 ethnic Chinese left Vietnam by boat as refugees or were expelled across the land border with China. In recent years the government has performed an about turn and is encouraging overseas Hoa to return and invest, but the ethnic Chinese population has been in continuous decline since the 1970s due to assimilation and low birth rates.
The central highland peoples commonly termed Degar or Montagnards comprise two main ethnolinguistic groups--Malayo-Polynesian and Mon–Khmer. About 30 groups of various cultures and dialects are spread over the highland territory.
Other minority groups include the Cham—remnants of the once-mighty Champa Kingdom, conquered by the Vietnamese in the 15th century, Hmong, and Tai.

Language

is the official language of the country. It belongs to the Austroasiatic language family, which also includes languages such as Khmer and Mon. Vietnamese was spoken by 85-90 million people in Vietnam at the 1999 census. In the early 21st century, around another four million Vietnamese speakers are found outside of Vietnam, mostly refugees from the Vietnam-American War. Thus Vietnamese is the most spoken language of the Austroasiatic family, being spoken by three times more people than the second most spoken language of the family, Khmer. Both languages, however, are extremely different: Vietnamese is a tonal, monosyllabic, phonetic language while Khmer has remained non-tonal. Vietnamese was heavily influenced by Chinese, with up to around 50-70% words having Chinese origins, whilst Khmer was heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, uses a abugida writing system, and has a great part of its vocabulary originating from Indian languages. Since the early 20th century, the Vietnamese have used a Romanized script introduced by the French, developed by Jesuit missionaries and later on, refined by Vietnamese scholars to produce what is now known the Vietnamese language and the Vietnamese alphabet.

Religions

According to the 2019 Census, the religious demographics of Vietnam are as follows:
Estimates for the year 2010 published by the Pew Research Center:
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Sex ratio

Life expectancy

Source: UN World Population Prospects

Literacy