COUNTRY DEMOGRAPHIC

VIETNAM & LAOS

Vietnam
Population: 91,519,289 Population Growth Rate: 1.004 Age structure0-14 years: 25.2% 15-64 years: 69.3% 65-over: 5.5%

Laos
Population: 6,586,266 Population Growth Rate: 1.655% Age structure0-14 years: 36.7% 15-64 years: 59.6% 65-over: 3.7%

Life expectancy: 72.41 years

Birth rate: 16.83 births/1000 Population Fertility rate: born/woman 1.89 children

Life expectancy: 62.77 years

Birth rate: Population Fertility rate: born/woman 25.68 births/1000

3.06

children

Vietnam
Nationality: 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%)

Laos
Nationality: Lao or Laotian Major ethnic: Lao 55%, Khmou 11%, Hmong 8%, Others (over 100 minor ethnic groups) 26%

LanguageOfficial: Vietnamese language Spoken: Vietnamese, English, French, and many minority and mountain area languages

LanguageOfficial: Lao Spoken: French, Ethnic languages.

English,

Various

Vietnam
Religion: Buddhist 9.3%, Catholic 6.7%, Hoa Hao 1.5%, Cao Dai 1.1%, Protestant 0.5%, Muslims 0.1%, None 80.8%. LiteracyDefinition: Age 15 and above can read and write. Total Population: 94% Male: 96.1% Female: 92% Education Expenditure: 5.3% of GDP

Laos
Religion: Buddhist 67%, Christian 1.5%, other & unspecified 31.5%.

LiteracyDefinition: Age 15 and above can read and write. Total Population: 73% Male: 83% Female: 63% Education Expenditure: 2.3% of GDP

Vietnam
UrbanizationUrban Population: 30% of Total Population Rate of Urbanization: 3% annual rate of change

Laos
UrbanizationUrban Population: 33% of Total Population Rate of Urbanization: 4.9% annual rate of change

Health Expenditure: 7.2% of GDP

Health Expenditure: 6.5% of GDP

Vietnam
Slum population as percentage of Urban: 41.3% (Estimation based on two components Water & Sanitation) Distribution of Family Income: 37.6%(Gini Index- The index measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country. It is calculated from a Lorenz curve in which cumulative family income is plotted against the number of families arranged from the poorest to the richest. The index is the ratio of (a) the area between a country's Lorenz curve and the 45 degree helping line to (b) the entire triangular area under the 45 degree line. The more nearly equal a country's income distribution, the closer its Lorenz curve to the 45 degree line and the lower its Gini index).

Laos
Slum population as percentage of Urban: 79.3 % (Estimation based on two components Water & Sanitation) Distribution of Family Income: 36.7% (Gini Index- The index measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country. It is calculated from a Lorenz curve in which cumulative family income is plotted against the number of families arranged from the poorest to the richest. The index is the ratio of (a) the area between a country's Lorenz curve and the 45 degree helping line to (b) the entire triangular area under the 45 degree line. The more nearly equal a country's income distribution, the closer its Lorenz curve to the 45 degree line and the lower its Gini index).

VIETNAM
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 1.3 million people. However, estimates vary from 1.1 to 7 million. 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 shop-keeping, 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.

CNTD..
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. However in recent years the government has performed an about turn and is encouraging overseas Hoa to return and invest. The central highland peoples commonly termed Degar or Montagnards (mountain people) comprise two main ethnolinguistic groups- Malaya-Polynesian and Mon-Khmer. About 30 groups of various cultures and dialects are spread over the highland territory.

LAOS
The people of Laos are often considered by their altitudinal distribution (lowlands, midlands and highlands) as this approximates ethnic groups. Lao Loum (lowland people) 60% of the country's people are ethnic Lao , the principal lowland inhabitants and the politically and culturally dominant group. The Lao belong to the Tai, linguistic group who began migrating southward from China in the first millennium AD. 10% belong to other "lowland" groups, which together with the Lao people make up the Lao Lao Theung (midland people) In the central and southern mountains, Mon-Khmer tribes, known as Lao Theung or mid-slope Laotians, predominate. Other terms are Khmu, Khamu (Kammu) or Kha as the Lao Loum refer to them as indicating their AustroAsiatic origins. However the latter is considered pejorative, meaning 'slave'. They were the indigenous inhabitants of northern Laos.

CNTD..
Some Vietnamese, Chinese and Thailand Thai minorities remain, particularly in the towns, but many left after independence in the late 1940s, many of whom relocated either to Vietnam, Hong Kong, or to France. Lao Theung constitute about 30% of the population. Lao Soung (highland people) Hill people and minority cultures of Laos such as the Hmong(Miao), Yao (Mien), Dao, Shan, and several TibetoBurman speaking peoples have lived in isolated regions of Laos for many years. Mountain/hill tribes of mixed ethno/culturallinguistic heritage are found in northern Laos which include the Lua (Lua) and Khmu people who are indigenous to Laos. Today, the Lua people are considered endangered. Collectively, they are known as Lao Soung or highland Laotians. Lao Soung account for only about 10% of the population