Before you travel, take a photocopy of your international passport and other documents proving your identity (driver’s license, etc.), and airline tickets, and store them separately from the originals. In case of loss of documents, you will have fewer problems, especially with tickets. Take spare passport photos with you, including those for children – they… Read More »
Education Vietnam has a very strong educational tradition and can point to a high literacy rate and – at least in primary schools – high school attendance. Despite all the successes, there are still regional differences in access to educational institutions. According to politicsezine, the Vietnamese education system also faces other problems. The pronounced “thirst… Read More »
Housing and supply In Vietnam, the building boom broke out as part of the reform policy. There is generally enough living space. When looking for a place to live, it is best to rely on the advice of “experienced” expats, who exchange ideas, for example, on discussion forums. Another good source of information specifically about… Read More »
Currency: Đồng Exchange rate (VND): 27,400 Đồng per € (November 2020) Time zone: UTC + 7 Country code (phone): +84 Climate (for capital): subtropical Entry and residence regulations Since July 1st, 2015 Germans no longer need a visa for a trip to Vietnam of a maximum of 15 days. This provision was initially valid until… Read More »
Major religions: 12.2% Buddhists, 6.7% Catholics Urban population: 34.4% (2019) Life expectancy (female / male): 79/71 years (2018) Proportion of literate adults: 95.8 (2019) Gender Inequality Index: Rank 68 of 162 (2019) Infant mortality: 16.5 (per 1000 births) (UN estimate, 2018) Number of births: 2.0 / woman (World Bank estimate, 2017) Ethnicity According to pharmacylib,… Read More »
Traditional medicine, which is heavily influenced by Chinese medicine, is still widely used in Vietnam even though the demand for Western medicine has increased. In the course of the reform policy, fundamental changes have also taken place in the health care system, with extreme commercialization in particular causing major problems. So is corruption in hospitals… Read More »
The revitalization of native traditions in Vietnam is particularly evident in the area of religion. Various forces are at work here: the desire of the state to strengthen “good Vietnamese traditions” and local initiatives to revive certain religious practices that have not been allowed or could not be practiced for decades. According to eningbo, religious… Read More »
In the course of the reform policy, Vietnam has opened up to foreign countries and is therefore more subject to external cultural influences. At the same time, however, đổi mới has strengthened or even revived local traditions. This development is in part targeted by the Vietnamese state. The limits of state cultural policy were clearly… Read More »
As recent studies make clear, the Vietnamese population as a whole has benefited from the economic reforms of recent years. The poverty rate fell from 60% in the early 1990’s to 9.8% in 2016. At the same time, the economic reforms, especially in the cities, have created a middle class and a class of consumer-oriented… Read More »
Vietnam’s rapid economic development is due to various factors such as the country’s favorable geographical location and its human capital. One of the great advantages is the cheap labor. Most observers agree that Vietnam must pursue a new economic policy in order to solve fundamental problems such as the lack of competitiveness of many state-run… Read More »
Only around 24% of the Vietnamese population live in cities, but these contribute around 70% of GDP. The agricultural sector has decreased in importance for the economy as a whole, but in terms of the number of economically active people it is still the most important branch of the economy in the country, as around… Read More »
Economy & Development Estimated GDP: $ 223.864 billion (2017) Per capita income (purchasing power parity): 6776 US $ (2017) Human Development Rank (HDI): Country ranked 118 of 189 (2018) Proportion of poverty (national poverty line): 6.7% (2018) Distribution of income (Gini coefficient): 35.3 (2016) Economic Transformation Index (BTI): 53 (of 138) (2020) Economy The Vietnamese… Read More »
Vietnam occupies a central position in the Southeast Asia region. Until the late 1980’s, the country was isolated in terms of foreign policy. Since the introduction of economic reforms in the second half of the 1980’s, Vietnam has opened up in terms of foreign policy and can certainly boast a track record: relaxation of relations… Read More »
Relations with Russia Russian President Putin, who was the first Russian head of state to visit Vietnam at the end of February / beginning of March 2001, was warmly welcomed by the party and state leadership in Hanoi, but the population hardly noticed his presence. The Vietnamese-Soviet relations, which until the 1980’s was very tight,… Read More »
In July 2017 had Vietnam: mid-2017, tensions between Vietnam and China increased again test drilling of a Spanish energy company for natural gas in the South China Sea to stop after the Chinese side with the use of military force had threatened. The fact that the Vietnamese side gave in to the demands of the… Read More »
Mid-July 2014, announced the Chinese side by surprising the oil Patt form back from the disputed sea area withdraw. On the one hand, this step may be related to a typhoon that was predicted. On the other hand, the aim of the Chinese leadership can also be to strengthen the more pro-Chinese forces in the… Read More »
The issuance of new Chinese passports at the end of November 2012 with cards on the pages intended for the visa stamps, which make clear the Chinese claims to large parts of the South China Sea, did little to ease the situation. The Vietnamese customs authorities refuse to stamp the visa on the relevant pages… Read More »
Relations with China, the big neighbor to the north, have continued to develop since the early 1990’s. The economic relations between the two countries are very close, but Vietnam has a massive trade deficit with China. The year 2010 was proclaimed by both sides as a joint “year of friendship”. The fact that mutual relations… Read More »
In July 2000 Vietnam and the US signed a joint trade agreement after lengthy and difficult negotiations. In November 2000, President Clinton made a state visit to Vietnam as the first US president since the end of the war in 1975. The visit of then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai to the USA in June… Read More »
Overall, the cases of mass fish deaths and land disputes point to the increasing importance of blogs and other “social media” in political culture in Vietnam: although the Vietnamese authorities often use methods to control the Internet that have been used in the People’s Republic of China have been used for a long time, they… Read More »
The arrest of critical bloggers continued into the spring and summer of 2013. In February 2014, a Hanoi court upheld the judgment against the critical blogger and lawyer Le Quoc Quan. He had received a 30-month sentence in October 2013. In October 2014, the well-known blogger Nguyen Van Hai (“Dieu Cay”), who had previously been… Read More »
Since the reform policy began, the media have enjoyed greater freedom, but they are still subject to state control. In the meantime, topics can be addressed in newspapers and magazines that were still taboo in the “pre-reform period”, but there are still limits to reporting. For example, the editors-in-chief of the most important newspapers are… Read More »
In August 2017, the Deputy Trade Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa lost her position – she was also accused of corruption. In mid-2016, Trinh Xuan Thanh, a former director of a company belonging to Petro Vietnam, who had been accused of massive mismanagement, fled to Germany from the threat of arrest. In July 2017, the… Read More »
The corruption is one of the largest domestic problems, which the Communist Party of Vietnam has to face. A number of studies on the subject of “corruption in Vietnam” are now available. According to this, there are sometimes noticeable discrepancies between the respondents’ perception and experiences with corruption. The police, the education system and the… Read More »
Vietnam does not have a “classic democracy”, but since the mid-1990’s – according to the political scientist Benedict Kerkvliet – many Vietnamese have expressed their political opinion publicly and thus use the newly created freedom to exert pressure on the government and the party and, for example, to withdraw certain ones Forcing decisions. This contrasts… Read More »
The Vietnamese National Assembly is elected every five years. It is no longer a mere acclamation organ as it was in the “pre-reform period” and has a certain control function. This was also evident in their rejection of a government bill to build a high-speed rail line from north to south. However, this does not… Read More »
Independence Day: September 02, 1945 Head of state: Nguyen Phu Trong Head of government: Nguyen Xuan Phuc Political system: socialist Democracy Status Index (BTI): Rank 107 (of 138) (2020) Corruption Index (CPI): Rank 96 (of 180) (2019) State Government According to commit4fitness, Vietnam is a socialist state. The leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam… Read More »
China ruled the country for almost 1,000 years. Even after gaining independence in 939, the Vietnamese had to deal with the Chinese. At the same time the establishment of the Vietnamese state took place – strongly influenced by Confucian ideas – and the territorial expansion of Vietnam to the south (“move to the south”). From… Read More »
The majority of the Vietnamese live in the densely populated Red River Delta in the north and in the Mekong Delta in the south of the country. After the incorporation of Ha Tay province and other neighboring areas, the capital Hanoi in the north of the country has a population of approx. 7.6 million (2014).… Read More »
Vietnam is comparable to Germany with a population of approx. 96.2 million and an area of approx. 330,000 km². After almost thirty years of uninterrupted war (1946-1975), Vietnam has experienced rapid growth since the introduction of market reforms (“đổi mới”) in 1986. Country overview Vietnam, which belongs to mainland Southeast Asia, stretches for approx. 1700… Read More »