Demographics of Vietnam

Demographics of {{{place}}}
Population	94,515,000 (on July 28, 2016)
Growth rate	1.08% (2016 est.)
Birth rate	16.2 births/1000 population (2015 est.)
Death rate	6.81 deaths/1000 population (2015 est.)
Life expectancy	73.3 years (2015 est.)
• male	70.7 years (2015 est.)
• female	76.1 years (2015 est.)
Fertility rate	2.10 births/woman (2015 est.)
Infant mortality rate	14.73 deaths/1000 live births (2015 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	24.6% (male 11,931,623/female 10,807,661) (2011 est.)
15–64 years	69.8% (male 31,301,879/female 31,419,306) (2011 est.)
65 and over	5.5% (male 1,921,652/female 3,092,589) (2011 est.)
Sex ratio
At birth	1.122 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.1 male(s)/female
15–64 years	1 male (s)/female
65 and over	0.62 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural) adjective: Vietnamese
Major ethnic	Kinh (Viet) (85.7%)
Minor ethnic	Tay (1.9%), Thai (1.8%), Muong (1.5%), Khmer (1.5%), Mong (1.2%), Nung (1.1%), others (5.3%)
Language
Official	Vietnamese language
Spoken	Vietnamese and many minority and mountain area languages

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 (known officially as Kinh), live in the lowlands and speak the Vietnamese language. This group dominates much of the cultural and political landscape of Vietnam.

Population

UN estimates

	Total population (000's)	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	28 000	31.9	63.9	4.2
1955	31 329	35.6	60.1	4.3
1960	35 173	40.1	55.5	4.4
1965	39 885	44.1	51.3	4.6
1970	44 928	44.2	50.9	4.8
1975	49 896	42.9	52.3	4.8
1980	54 023	40.7	54.3	4.9
1985	60 307	39.4	55.7	4.9
1990	67 102	38.0	57.0	5.0
1995	74 008	36.5	58.4	5.1
2000	78 758	32.1	62.3	5.6
2005	83 161	27.3	66.8	5.9
2010	87 100	23.8	69.4	6.8

Population pyramids

Census (01/04/2009)

Census (01/04/2009) :

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	42 413 143	43 433 854	85 846 997	100
0-4	3 662 889	3 371 255	7 034 144	7.97
5-9	3 458 159	3 252 578	6 710 737	7.82
10-14	3 725 369	3 523 009	7 248 378	8.44
15-19	4 577 914	4 385 988	8 963 902	10.44
20-24	4 253 618	4 179 249	8 432 867	9.82
25-29	3 904 730	3 885 273	7 790 003	9.07
30-34	3 462 905	3 405 253	6 868 158	8.00
35-39	3 298 266	3 233 341	6 531 607	7.61
40-44	2 967 934	2 998 922	5 966 856	6.95
45-49	2 642 466	2 808 462	5 450 928	6.35
50-54	2 082 098	2 329 953	4 412 051	5.14
55-59	1 364 319	1 620 300	2 984 619	3.48
60-64	861 897	1 076 051	1 937 948	2.26
65-69	653 287	901 391	1 554 678	1.81
70-74	568 312	844 226	1 412 538	1.65
75-79	480 088	718 805	1 198 893	1.40
80-84	264 997	460 988	725 985	0.85
85+	183 895	438 810	622 705	0.73

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	10 846 417	10 146 842	20 993 259	24.45
15-64	29 416 147	29 922 792	59 338 939	69.12
65+	2 150 579	3 364 220	5 514 799	6.42

Estimates (01/07/2014)

Estimates (01/07/2014) :

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	44 758 132	45 970 809	90 728 941	100
0-4	3 806 055	3 423 520	7 229 575	7.97
5-9	3 730 617	3 431 843	7 162 460	7.89
10-14	3 555 440	3 344 659	6 900 099	7.61
15-19	3 580 322	3 413 183	6 993 505	7.71
20-24	4 058 691	3 959 579	8 018 270	8.84
25-29	3 951 220	3 888 697	7 839 917	8.64
30-34	3 689 395	3 769 601	7 458 996	8.22
35-39	3 390 462	3 439 787	6 830 249	7.53
40-44	3 292 933	3 295 012	6 587 945	7.26
45-49	2 980 442	3 068 389	6 048 831	6.67
50-54	2 699 165	2 971 459	5 670 624	6.25
55-59	2 096 032	2 405 568	4 501 600	4.96
60-64	1 376 861	1 671 621	3 048 482	3.36
65-69	832 090	1 084 870	1 916 960	2.11
70-74	600 732	862 104	1 462 836	1.61
75-79	477 293	757 242	1 234 535	1.36
80+	640 382	1 183 675	1 824 057	2.01

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	11 092 112	10 200 022	21 292 134	23.47
15-64	31 115 523	31 882 896	62 998 419	69.44
65+	2 550 497	3 887 891	6 438 388	7.10

Vital statistics

UN estimates of births and deaths

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR1	CDR1	NC1	TFR1	IMR1
1950-1955	1 335 000	722 000	613 000	44.8	24.2	20.6	6.20	157.9
1955-1960	1 533 000	764 000	769 000	46.1	23.0	23.1	6.76	143.7
1960-1965	1 732 000	790 000	942 000	46.2	21.0	25.2	7.33	130.3
1965-1970	1 798 000	790 000	1 009 000	42.4	18.6	23.8	7.38	117.8
1970-1975	1 853 000	859 000	994 000	39.1	18.1	21.0	7.15	118.4
1975-1980	1 797 000	760 000	1 036 000	34.6	14.6	20.0	5.89	97.6
1980-1985	1 952 000	630 000	1 322 000	34.1	11.0	23.1	4.93	70.0
1985-1990	2 000 000	574 000	1 425 000	31.4	9.0	22.4	3.96	54.8
1990-1995	1 929 000	484 000	1 444 000	27.3	6.9	20.4	3.23	37.9
1995-2000	1 448 000	441 000	1 007 000	19.0	5.8	13.2	2.18	29.2
2000-2005	1 392 000	425 000	967 000	17.2	5.3	11.9	1.93	23.1
2005-2010	1 472 000	448 000	1 024 000	17.2	5.2	12.0	1.89	20.4
1 CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births

Historical populations

Year	Pop.	±%
1950	28,264,000	—
1960	35,173,000	+24.4%
1970	44,928,000	+27.7%
1980	54,023,000	+20.2%
1990	67,102,000	+24.2%
2000	78,758,000	+17.4%
2010	87,100,000	+10.6%
2014	90,730,000	+4.2%
Source:https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cb.html

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 population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate (children per woman)
2001	78.620,5				18.6	5.1	13.5	2.25
2002	79.537,7				19.0	5.8	13.2	2.28
2003	80.467,4				17.5	5.8	11.7	2.12
2004	81.436,4				19.2	5.4	13.8	2.23
2005	82.392,1				18.6	5.3	13.3	2.11
2006	83.311,2				17.4	5.3	12.1	2.09
2007	84.218,5				16.9	5.3	11.6	2.07
2008	85.118,7				16.7	5.3	11.4	2.08
2009	86.025,0				17.6	6.8	10.8	2.03
2010	86.932,5				17.1	6.8	10.3	2.00
2011	87.840,0	1.443,0	599,8	843,2	16.6	6.9	9.7	1.99
2012	88.772,9	1.484,5	621,4	863.1	16.9	7.0	9.9	2.05
2013	89.759,5	1.513,5	621,4	892,1	17.0	7.1	9.9	2.10
2014	90.728,9	1.525.9	619,3	906.6	17.2	6.9	10.3	2.09
2015	91.700,0	1.588,6	617.8	974.9	17.5	6.8	10.7	2.10

• preliminary

Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

Fertility rate by region and province

Province	2005	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Vietnam	2.11	2.07	2.08	2.03	2.00	1.99
Red River Delta	2.06	2.11	2.13	2.11	2.04	2.06
Hà Nội	1.83	1.91	2.06	2.08	2.00	2.02
Hà Tây	2.29	2.23
Vĩnh Phúc	2.15	2.00	2.10	2.13	2.06	2.02
Bắc Ninh	2.40	2.28	2.29	2.32	2.26	2.23
Quảng Ninh	2.24	2.12	2.12	2.20	1.99	2.07
Hải Dương	2.10	2.04	2.13	1.99	1.98	2.01
Hải Phòng	2.13	1.86	1.95	2.16	1.98	2.00
Hưng Yên	2.32	2.08	2.25	2.11	2.13	2.19
Thái Bình	2.19	2.21	2.14	2.08	2.10	2.15
Hà Nam	2.30	2.18	2.12	2.07	2.09	2.16
Nam Định	2.31	2.39	2.19	2.25	2.20	2.24
Ninh Bình	2.37	2.26	2.36	2.04	1.88	1.86
Northern midlands and mountain areas	2.33	2.23	2.30	2.24	2.22	2.21
Hà Giang	3.06	2.89	2.86	3.08	3.05	2.57
Cao Bằng	2.55	2.28	2.26	2.18	2.09	2.15
Bắc Kạn	2.29	2.12	2.07	1.84	1.85	1.91
Tuyên Quang	2.17	2.05	2.05	2.10	2.07	2.10
Lào Cai	2.97	2.59	2.69	2.70	2.73	2.57
Yên Bái	2.55	2.36	2.56	2.38	2.32	2.26
Thái Nguyên	1.99	1.99	1.95	1.89	1.90	1.96
Lạng Sơn	2.28	2.14	2.15	1.86	1.84	1.88
Bắc Giang	2.21	2.07	2.22	1.94	1.86	1.94
Phú Thọ	2.03	1.99	2.11	2.10	2.08	2.22
Điện Biên	3.17	2.72	2.72	2.55	2.57	2.67
Lai Châu	3.52	3.02	3.01	2.96	2.91	2.93
Sơn La	2.76	2.36	2.29	2.61	2.58	2.43
Hòa Bình	2.09	2.06	2.01	1.98	1.98	2.03
North Central and Central coastal areas	2.37	2.27	2.30	2.21	2.21	2.21
Thanh Hóa	2.39	2.12	2.17	1.89	1.89	2.01
Nghệ An	2.75	2.49	2.52	2.55	2.56	2.49
Hà Tĩnh	2.38	2.46	2.65	2.46	2.46	2.50
Quảng Bình	2.58	2.57	2.57	2.37	2.39	2.41
Quảng Trị	2.90	2.77	2.71	2.85	2.84	2.67
Thừa Thiên - Huế	2.98	2.79	2.54	2.26	2.28	2.22
Đà Nẵng	1.87	1.90	1.92	2.14	2.16	1.99
Quảng Nam	2.40	2.32	2.12	2.30	2.27	2.16
Quảng Ngãi	2.21	2.11	2.18	2.09	2.11	2.21
Bình Định	2.25	2.17	2.09	2.22	2.17	2.28
Phú Yên	2.25	2.18	2.32	1.96	1.98	2.11
Khánh Hòa	2.12	2.14	2.18	2.04	2.06	1.93
Ninh Thuận	2.53	2.28	2.24	2.40	2.42	2.38
Bình Thuận	2.38	2.40	2.38	2.07	2.09	2.14
Central Highlands	3.07	2.77	2.68	2.65	2.63	2.58
Kon Tum	3.94	3.49	3.58	3.45	3.46	3.25
Gia Lai	3.10	2.97	2.86	2.88	2.90	2.85
Đắk Lắk	2.98	2.84	2.57	2.45	2.47	2.42
Đắk Nông	3.38	3.05	2.87	2.72	2.68	2.57
Lâm Đồng	2.67	2.37	2.31	2.43	2.28	2.32
South East	1.85	1.74	1.73	1.69	1.68	1.59
Bình Phước	2.61	2.47	2.38	2.45	2.43	2.31
Tây Ninh	1.98	1.89	1.79	1.79	1.77	1.80
Bình Dương	1.66	1.74	1.85	1.70	1.72	1.76
Đồng Nai	1.92	1.91	1.83	2.07	2.09	1.99
Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu	2.06	2.09	2.13	2.01	1.88	1.82
TP. Hồ Chí Minh	1.52	1.49	1.63	1.45	1.45	1.30
Mekong River Delta	2.00	1.87	1.87	1.84	1.80	1.80
Long An	1.95	1.91	1.95	1.85	1.87	1.83
Tiền Giang	2.02	1.98	1.97	1.94	1.93	1.92
Bến Tre	1.76	1.70	1.71	1.81	1.79	1.71
Trà Vinh	2.03	1.89	1.79	1.86	1.80	1.80
Vĩnh Long	1.83	1.76	1.75	1.63	1.65	1.63
Đồng Tháp	1.98	1.77	1.74	1.87	1.89	1.83
An Giang	2.00	1.86	1.86	1.97	1.97	1.92
Kiên Giang	2.22	2.10	2.09	1.84	1.80	1.86
Cần Thơ	1.70	1.64	1.75	1.72	1.62	1.62
Hậu Giang	1.95	1.94	1.89	1.96	1.75	1.77
Sóc Trăng	2.02	1.90	2.06	1.79	1.81	1.83
Bạc Liêu	2.11	2.10	2.00	1.75	1.59	1.69
Cà Mau	2.10	2.00	2.01	1.75	1.64	1.73

Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

Ethnic groups

See also: List of ethnic groups in Vietnam

Ethnolinguistic map of Indochina, 1970

The Vietnamese government recognizes 54 ethnic groups, of which the Viet (Kinh) is the largest; according to official Vietnamese figures (1999 census), ethnic Vietnamese account for 86% of the nation's population. The ethnic Vietnamese inhabit a little less than half of Vietnam, while the ethnic minorities inhabit the majority of Vietnam's land (albeit the least fertile parts of the country).

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. Restrictions on economic activity following reunification in 1975 and the subsequent but unrelated general deterioration in Vietnamese-Chinese relations sent chills through the Chinese-Vietnamese community.

The relation between China and Vietnam also declined in this period, 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 (many officially encouraged and assisted) 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 (mountain people) 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 ("Thái").

Population of Vietnam according to ethnic group 1989-2009

Ethnic group	Language family	census 1989		census 1999		census 2009		census 2014
		Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Kinh	Vietic	56,101,583	87.1	65,795,748	86.2	73,594,427	85.7
Tày	Tai-Kadai	1,145,235	1.8	1,477,514	1.9	1,626,392	1.9
Thai	Tai-Kadai	992,809	1.5	1,328,725	1.7	1,550,423	1.8
Mường	Vietic	874,195	1.4	1,137,515	1.5	1,268,963	1.5
Khmer	Mon-Khmer	872,382	1.4	1,055,174	1.4	1,260,640	1.5
Mong	Hmong-Dao			787,604	1.0	1,068,189	1.2
Nùng	Tai-Kadai	696,305	1.1	856,412	1.1	968,800	1.1
Hoa	Chinese	961,702	1.5	862,371	1.1	823,071	1.0
Dao	Hmong-Dao			620,538	0.81	751,067	0.87
Gia Rai	Malayo-Polynesian			317,557	0.42	411,275	0.48
Ê Đê	Malayo-Polynesian			270,348	0.35	331,194	0.39
Ba Na	Mon-Khmer			174,456	0.23	227,716	0.27
Xơ Đăng	Mon-Khmer			127,148	0.17	169,501	0.20
Sán Chay	Tai-Kadai			147,315	0.19	169,410	0.20
Cờ Ho	Mon-Khmer			128,723	0.17	166,112	0.19
Chăm	Malayo-Polynesian			132,873	0.17	161,729	0.19
Sán Dìu	Chinese			126,237	0.17	146,821	0.17
Ra Glai	Malayo-Polynesian			96,931	0.13	122,245	0.14
M'Nông	Mon-Khmer			92,451	0.12	102,741	0.12
Xtiêng	Mon-Khmer			66,788	0.09	85,436	0.10
Bru-Vân Kiều	Mon-Khmer			55,559	0.07	74,506	0.09
Thổ	Vietic			68,394	0.09	74,458	0.09
Khơ Mú	Mon-Khmer			56,542	0.07	72,929	0.08
Hrê	Mon-Khmer			113,111	0.15	63,012	0.07
Cơ Tu	Mon-Khmer			50,458	0.07	61,588	0.07
Giáy	Tai-Kadai			49,098	0.06	58,617	0.07
Giẻ Triêng	Mon-Khmer			30,243	0.04	50,962	0.06
Tà Ôi	Mon-Khmer			34,960	0.05	43,886	0.05
Mạ	Mon-Khmer			33,338	0.04	41,405	0.05
Co	Mon-Khmer			27,766	0.04	33,817	0.04
Chơ Ro	Mon-Khmer			22,567	0.03	26,855	0.03
Xinh Mun	Mon-Khmer			18,018	0.02	23,278	0.03
Chu Ru	Malayo-Polynesian			14,978	0.02	19,314	0.02
Lao	Tai-Kadai			11,611	0.02	14,928	0.02
Kháng	Mon-Khmer			10,272	0.01	13,840	0.02
La Chí	Tai-Kadai			10,765	0.01	13,158	0.02
Hà Nhì	Tibeto-Burman			17,535	0.02	10,923	0.01
La Hủ	Tibeto-Burman			6,874	0.01	9,651	0.01
La Ha	Tai-Kadai			5,686	0.01	8,177	0.01
Pà Thẻn	Hmong-Dao			5,569	0.01	6,811	0.01
Chứt	Vietic			3,829	0.01	6,022	0.01
Lự	Tai-Kadai			4,964	0.01	5,601	0.01
Phù Lá	Tibeto-Burman			9,046	0.01	5,535	0.01
Mảng	Mon-Khmer			2,663	0.00	3,700	0.00
Cờ Lao	Tai-Kadai			1,865	0.00	2,636	0.00
Bố Y	Tai-Kadai			1,864	0.00	2,273	0.00
Lô Lô	Tibeto-Burman			3,307	0.00	2,218	0.00
Cống	Tibeto-Burman			1,676	0.00	2,029	0.00
Ngái	Chinese			4,841	0.01	1,035	0.00
Si La	Tibeto-Burman			840	0.00	709	0.00
Pu Péo	Tai-Kadai			705	0.00	687	0.00
Rơ Măm	Mon-Khmer			352	0.00	436	0.00
Brâu	Mon-Khmer			313	0.00	397	0.00
Ơ Đu	Mon-Khmer			301	0.00	376	0.00
Foreigners				39,532	0.05	2,134	0.00
Others		2,767,512	4.3	1,333	0.0	82,942	0.0
Total		64,411,713		76,323,173		85,846,997		90,493,352

Language

Vietnamese 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. 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 and a small part of the Vietnamese vocabulary is Chinese, while Khmer was heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Pali and a great part of its vocabulary is now made up of Indian words, so that both languages look very dissimilar on the surface. Since the early 20th century, the Vietnamese have used a Romanized script introduced by the French. (See Vietnamese language and Vietnamese alphabet).

Religions

Only a small fraction of the Vietnamese adheres to institutional religions, according to the 2009 official census.

• Vietnamese Folk Religion, 44.7%
• Buddhism, 38.3%
• Christianity, 7.2%
  • Roman Catholic, 6.7%
  • Protestant, 0.5%
• Hòa Hảo, 1.5%
• Cao Đài, 1.1%

Estimates for the year 2010 published by the Pew Research Center:

• Vietnamese folk religion, 56.0%
• Buddhism, 35.2%
• Christianity, 6.8%

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.08 male(s)/female

15–64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.63 male(s)/female

total population: 0.98 male(s)/female

(2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 71.33 years

male: 68.52 years

female: 74.33 years

(2008 est.)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 95.6% (2014 consensus)

male: 96.9%

female: 91.9% (2012)

See also

• Racism in Vietnam
• List of ethnic groups in Vietnam
• Overseas Vietnamese

Sources

• 2006 Vietnam's population estimates
• 1999 Census results
• Socioeconomic Atlas of Vietnam