Economy

Imports
$358 billion (2022). Integrated Circuits ($45.2B), Broadcasting Equipment ($19.5B), Refined Petroleum ($9.7B), Telephones ($9.43B), and Coal Briquettes ($7.03B), importing mostly from China ($138B), South Korea ($60.7B), Japan ($17.9B), Chinese Taipei ($15.7B), and Thailand ($13.4B).

In 2022, Vietnam was the world’s biggest importer of Light Rubberized Knitted Fabric ($6.5B), Synthetic Filament Yarn Woven Fabric ($2.9B), Coconuts, Brazil Nuts, and Cashews ($2.14B), Plastic Coated Textile Fabric ($1.64B), and Footwear Parts ($1.43B).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 31% have an account with a financial institution
• 4.1% have a credit card
• 3.5% have a mobile money account
• 21% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
Easy to conduct business (69.8 out of 100) 8th out of 25 East Asian and Pacific countries 70th worldwide out of 190 countries (2022, World Bank).

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 10th out of 16 Southern
East Asian and Oceanic countries, 46th out of 132 worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Exports
$399 billion (2022). Broadcasting Equipment ($58.5B), Telephones ($24.4B), Integrated Circuits ($16.9B), Office Machine Parts ($16.7B), and Textile Footwear ($13.2B), exporting mostly to United States ($117B), China ($58.7B), South Korea ($25.2B), Japan ($25B), and Hong Kong ($12.7B).

In 2022, Vietnam was the world’s biggest exporter of Fuel Wood ($3.69B), Coconuts, Brazil Nuts, and Cashews ($2.93B), Non-Retail Mixed Cotton Yarn ($437M), and Cinnamon ($268M).

Main local online stores
Lazada, The Gioi Di Dong, Sendo, Shopee, Tiki

Economic freedom
Mostly not free (62.8 out of 100) 11th out of 39 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, 59th worldwide out of 186 countries (2023, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Sources: iDea; Ministry of Industry and Trade

J.P. Morgan 2019 Payment Trends

Media

Media language
Vietnamese 

Information channels
The Communist Party has a strong hold on the media and the state controls all print and broadcast outlets. Repressive laws constrain journalists and bloggers, says Freedom House. Those who report or comment on controversial issues risk intimidation and physical attack. Bloggers and citizen journalists are the only sources of independent news, says Reporters Without Borders (RSF), but they face “ever-harsher forms of persecution”. TV is the main medium. Vietnam Television (VTV) runs the only national networks. VTV-owned satellite and cable pay TV platforms carry some foreign TVs. Voice of Vietnam (VoV) radio networks include VoV 5, with output in English and other languages. There are hundreds of newspapers and magazines. The Communist Party, government bodies and the military own or control almost all of them, says Freedom House There were 68.5 million internet users by the end of 2018 (InternetWorldStats.com). Material deemed to threaten Communist rule, including political dissent, is blocked. Censorship by means of content removal has become systematic, Freedom House said in 2018. The NGO said that the authorities had worked with Facebook to remove hundreds of accounts accused of spreading “reactionary, anti-Party” material. A cyber security law which took effect in 2019 requires global online platforms to set up local offices and store their user data within Vietnam.

Press

Nhan Dan – Communist Party daily, English-language pages,
Le Courrier du Vietnam – in French
Vietnam News – state-run, English-language daily
Tuoi Tre – daily, published by Communist Youth Union, English-language website
Thanh Nien – daily, published by Vietnam Youth Federation

Television

VTV – Vietnam Television

Radio

Voice of Vietnam – operates national networks and an external service Dai Tieng Noi Nhan Dan (Voice of Ho Chi Minh City)

Dai Tieng Noi Nhan Dan, external (Voice of Ho Chi Minh City)

Online

VietNamNetBridge – news site run by Information Ministry, English-language pages

Internet Data

Internet users
79.1% penetration, 78.44 million

Share of web traffic by device
84.45% mobile phones, 14.11% computers (laptops and desktops), 1.44% tablet devices.

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
47.06 Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
105.04 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population 169.8%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G) 96.6%

Most popular web search engines
Google (96.68%), CocCoc (2.55%), Bing (0.36%), Yahoo! (0.34%), Yandex (0.03%), other (0.05%).

Most used social media
Twitter (44.01%), Facebook (40.5%), YouTube (6.2%), Pinterest (4.42%), Instagram (3.64%), Reddit (0.53%), LinkedIn (0.28%), other (0.42%).

Social statistics

Life expectancy
75 yrs (2022)

Average age of the population
32.5 yrs (2020) 

CO2 emissions
3.7 metric tons per capita

Current education expenditure
78.1% of total expenditure in public institutions

Class
Generally, the issue of class is not discussed in Vietnam nowadays. Instead, social gaps and inequality are becoming widely discussed topics. 

Ethnicity
Vietnam has 54 distinct ethnic groups, and each group has its own language, lifestyle and cultural heritage. “Kinh”, which accounts for over 86% of the population, is Vietnam’s largest ethnic group and dominant in all walks of life of the country. In addition, other major ethnic groups in Vietnam include Tay, Thai, Muong, Khmer Krom, Hoa, Nung, Hmong, etc. The government has attempted to build roads, schools and hospitals for the poorest ethnic groups. However, ethnic minorities are still facing numerous difficulties (i.e., widening poverty gap; higher illiteracy and school drop-out rates; later enrolment rates; etc.). The human rights of ethnic minorities remain a politically sensitive issue in Vietnam. 

Healthcare expenditure
4.59% of GDP (2021)

Corruption perceptions Index
Vietnam scored 42 out of 100, ranked 77th out of 180 countries worldwide.

Religion
Under a communist regime, Vietnam is officially an atheist country. However many Vietnamese continue to practise “informal” religious customs and folk religious practices. For instance, most Vietnamese honour their ancestors and follow rituals for birth, death, marriage, opening a new business, moving, etc. Vietnamese and foreigners are allowed to practice their religions, provided that these religions are permitted and closely monitored by the government. Major religions in Vietnam include Mahayana Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Theravada Buddhism, Hoa Hao and Cao Dai. At this point, religion remains one of the most politically sensitive and scrutinised topics in Vietnam.

Gender
Although Vietnam has recently achieved some progress in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, it remains a male-dominated society, particularly in rural areas and among most ethnic minorities. Vietnamese women are still facing numerous obstacles, including poverty, limited access to higher education and employment opportunities, persistent discriminatory attitudes and behaviour, under-representation in politics; etc. 

World Happiness Index
Vietnam ranked 77th out of 146 countries, with a score of 5.485.