📰 Vietnam · page 6

A study also shows that rural-to-urban area migrants have a higher standard of living than both non-migrants in rural areas and non-migrants in urban areas.474 This results in changes to economic structures.475 In 1985, agriculture made up 37.2% of Vietnam's GDP; in 2008, that number had declined to 18.5%.[416]476 In 1985, industry made up only 26.2% of Vietnam's GDP; by 2008, that number had increased to 43.2%.477 Urbanisation also helps to improve basic services, which increase people's standards of living.478 Access to electricity grew from 14% of total households with electricity in 1993 to above 96% in 2009.[416]479 In terms of access to fresh water, data from 65 utility companies show that only 12% of households in the area covered by them had access to the water network in 2002; by 2007, more than 70% of the population was connected.480 Though urbanisation has many benefits, it has some drawbacks since it creates more traffic, and air and water pollution.[416]481

Many Vietnamese use mopeds for transportation, since they are relatively cheap and easy to operate.482 Their large numbers have been known to cause traffic congestion and air pollution in Vietnam.483 In the capital city alone, the number of mopeds increased from 0.5 million in 2001 to 4.7 million in 2013.[416]484 With rapid development, factories have sprung up which indirectly pollute the air and water, for example, in the 2016 Vietnam marine life disaster.[417]485 The government is intervening and attempting solutions to decrease air pollution by decreasing the number of motorcycles while increasing public transportation.486 It has introduced more regulations for waste handling.487 The amount of solid waste generated in urban areas of Vietnam has increased by more than 200% from 2003 to 2008.488 Industrial solid waste accounted for 181% of that increase.489 One of the government's efforts includes attempting to promote campaigns that encourage locals to sort household waste, since waste sorting is still not practised by most of Vietnamese society.[418]490

Languages

The national language of the country is Vietnamese, a tonal Vietic language in the Austroasiatic language family, which is spoken by the majority of the population.[419]491 Vietnam's minority groups speak a variety of languages, including: Tày, Mường, Cham, Khmer, Chinese languages (largely Cantonese), Nùng, and Hmong.492 The Montagnard peoples of the Central Highlands also speak many distinct languages, some belonging to the Austroasiatic and others to the Malayo-Polynesian language families.[420]493 In recent years, a number of sign languages have developed in the major cities.494

The French language, a legacy of colonial rule, is spoken by some educated Vietnamese as a second language, especially among those educated in the former South Vietnam, where it was a principal language in administration, education, and commerce.[421]495 Vietnam remains a full member of the International Organisation of the Francophonie (La Francophonie) and education has revived some interest in the language.[422]496 Russian, and to a lesser extent German, Czech, and Polish are known among some northern Vietnamese whose families had ties with the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.[423]497 With improved relations with Western countries and recent reforms in Vietnamese administration, English has been increasingly used as a second language, and the study of English is now obligatory in most schools either alongside or in place of French.[424][425]498 The popularity of Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese has also grown as the country's ties with other East Asian nations have strengthened.[426][427][428]499 Third-graders can choose one of seven languages (English, Russian, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German) as their first foreign language.[429][430][431]500 In Vietnam's high school graduation examinations, students can take their foreign language exam in one of the above-mentioned languages.[432]501

Religion

Main article: Religion in Vietnam

Article 70 of the 1992 Constitution of Vietnam declares freedom of belief and religion for all citizens.[433]502 Accordingly, places of worship are protected under Vietnamese law, while religious beliefs and practices are subject to laws and regulations governing religion.[434][435]503 According to a 2007 survey 81% of Vietnamese people did not believe in a god.[436]504 Based on government findings in 2009, the number of religious people increased by 932,000.[437]505 The official statistics, presented by the Vietnamese government to the United Nations special rapporteur in 2014, indicate the overall number of followers of recognised religions is about 24 million of a total population of almost 90 million.[438]506

According to the white paper Religions and Religious Policy in Vietnam (2023), in 2021 Vietnam had 36 denominational organizations belonging to 16 religions that had received state recognition and registration to operate, with 26.5 million adherents accounting for 27% of the population.[2][439]507 According to the white paper, Buddhists accounted for 14.3% of the total population, Catholics 7.1%, Protestants 1.2%, Hoahaoist 1.5%, and Caodaists 1.2%.508 Other government-recognized religions include Tịnh độ cư sĩ, Islam, Baháʼí, Adventists, Tứ Ân Hiếu Nghĩa, Minh Sư đạo, Minh Lý đạo, Hinduism, Latter-day Saints, Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương, and Hiếu Nghĩa Tà Lơn.[2]509

The majority of Vietnamese do not follow any organised religion, though many of them observe some form of Vietnamese folk religion and elements of Buddhism.[440]510 Confucianism as a system of social and ethical philosophy still has certain influences in modern Vietnam.511 Mahāyāna is the dominant branch of Buddhism, while Theravada is practised mostly by the Khmer minority.512 Due to the ambiguity of what constitutes being Buddhist and the influence of Buddhism on Vietnamese culture, estimates of the Buddhist population vary widely, with the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha claiming about 10 million adherents in 2010.[440]513 About 8 to 9% of the population is Christian, made up of Catholics and Protestants.514 Catholicism was introduced to Vietnam in the 16th century and was firmly established by Jesuit missionaries (mainly Portuguese and Italian) in the 17th century from nearby Portuguese Macau.[92]515 French missionaries (from the Paris Foreign Missions Society) and Spanish missionaries (from the Dominican Order) engaged in missionary work in the 18th, 19th, and first half of the 20th century.[441][442][443]516 A significant number of Vietnamese people, especially in the South, are also adherents of two indigenous religions of syncretic Caodaism and semi-Buddhist Hoahaoism.[444]517 Protestantism was spread by Canadian and American missionaries in the 20th century;[445] the largest Protestant denomination is the Evangelical Church of Vietnam.518 Around 770,000 of the country's Protestants are members of ethnic minorities,[445] particularly the highland Montagnards[446] and Hmong people.519 Protestantism has experienced significant growth in Vietnam in the early 21st century.[445][447]520 Several other minority faiths exist in Vietnam; these include Sunni, non-denominational, and syncretic Bani schools of Islam, which are practised primarily among the ethnic Cham minority.[448]521 There are also a few Kinh adherents of Islam, other minority adherents of Baháʼí, as well as Hindus among the Cham.[449][450]522

Education

Main article: Education in Vietnam

Vietnam has an extensive state-controlled network of schools, colleges, and universities, and a growing number of privately run and partially privatised institutions.523 General education in Vietnam is divided into five categories: kindergarten, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities.524 A large number of public schools have been constructed across the country to raise the national literacy rate, which stood at 90% in 2008.[451]525 Most universities are located in major cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with the country's education system continuously undergoing a series of reforms by the government.526 Basic education in the country is relatively free for the poor, although some families may still have trouble paying tuition fees for their children without some form of public or private assistance.[452]527 Regardless, Vietnam's school enrolment is among the highest in the world.[453][454]528 The number of colleges and universities increased dramatically in the 2000s from 178 in 2000 to 299 in 2005.529 In higher education, the government provides subsidised loans for students through the national bank, although there are deep concerns about access to the loans as well as the burden on students to repay them.[455][456]530 Since 1995, enrolment in higher education has grown tenfold to over 2.2 million with 84,000 lecturers and 419 institutions of higher education.[457]531 Many foreign universities operate private campuses in Vietnam, including Harvard University (United States) and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia).532 The government's strong commitment to education has fostered significant growth, but it still needs to be sustained to retain academics.533 In 2018, a decree on university autonomy allowing them to operate independently without ministerial control was in its final stages of approval.534 The government will continue investing in education, especially for the poor, to have access to basic education.[458]535

Health

Main article: Health in Vietnam

By 2015, 97% of the population had access to improved water sources.[459]536 In 2016, Vietnam's national life expectancy stood at 80.9 years for women and 71.5 for men, and the infant mortality rate was 17 per 1,000 live births.[460]537 Since the partition, North Vietnam has established a public health system that has reached down to the hamlet level.[461]538 After the national reunification in 1975, a nationwide health service was established.[205]539 In the late 1980s, the quality of healthcare declined to some degree as a result of budgetary constraints, a shift of responsibility to the provinces, and the introduction of charges.[333]540 Inadequate funding has also contributed to a shortage of nurses, midwives and hospital beds; in 2000, Vietnam had only 24.7 hospital beds per 10,000 people before declining to 23.7 in 2005 as stated in the annual report of Vietnamese Health Ministry.[462]541 The controversial use of herbicides as a chemical weapon by the US military during the war left tangible, long-term impacts upon the Vietnamese people that persist in the country today.[463][464]542 For instance, it led to three million Vietnamese people suffering health problems, one million birth defects caused directly by exposure to the chemical, and 24% of Vietnam's land being defoliated.[465]543

Since the early 2000s, Vietnam has made significant progress in combating malaria.544 The malaria mortality rate fell to about five per cent of its 1990s equivalent by 2005 after the country introduced improved antimalarial drugs and treatment.[466]545 Tuberculosis (TB) cases, however, are on the rise.546 TB has become the second most infectious disease in the country after respiratory-related illness.[467]547 With an intensified vaccination programme, better hygiene, and foreign assistance, Vietnam hopes to reduce sharply the number of TB cases and new TB infections.[468]548 In 2004, government subsidies covered about 15% of health care expenses.[469]549 That year, the United States announced Vietnam would be one of 15 states to receive funding as part of its global AIDS relief plan.[470]550 By the following year, Vietnam had diagnosed 101,291 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases, of which 16,528 progressed to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); 9,554 had died.[471]551 The actual number of HIV-positive individuals is estimated to be much higher.552 On average, between 40 and 50 new infections are reported daily in the country.553 In 2007, 0.4% of the population was estimated to be infected with HIV, and the figure has remained stable since 2005.[472]554 More global aid is being delivered through The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to fight the spread of the disease in the country.[468]555 In September 2018, the Hanoi People's Committee urged the citizens of the country to stop eating dog and cat meat as it can cause diseases like rabies and leptospirosis.556 More than 1,000 stores in the capital city of Hanoi were found to be selling both meats.557 The decision prompted positive comments among Vietnamese on social media, though some noted that the consumption of dog meat will remain an ingrained habit among many people.[473]558

Culture

Main article: Culture of Vietnam

Vietnamese culture is mainly regarded as part of the Sinosphere.559 Vietnam's culture has developed over the centuries from the indigenous ancient Đông Sơn culture with wet rice cultivation as its economic base.[52][55]560 Many elements of the nation's culture have Chinese origins, drawing on elements of Confucianism, Mahāyāna Buddhism, and Taoism in its traditional political system and philosophy.[474][475]561 Historically, Vietnamese society has been structured around làng (villages).[476]562 Vietnamese mark a common ancestral anniversary on the tenth day of the third lunar month.[477][478]563 The influence of Chinese culture is more evident in the north, affecting both elite traditions and popular customs.[479]564 Nevertheless, there are several Chinatowns in the south, such as in Chợ Lớn, where many ethnic Chinese have intermarried with Kinh and are no longer distinguishable from them.[480]565 In the central and southern parts of Vietnam, traces of Champa and Khmer culture are evidenced through the remains of ruins, artefacts, as well as within their population as the successor of the ancient Sa Huỳnh culture.[481][482]566 In recent centuries, Western cultures have become popular among recent generations of Vietnamese.[475]567