Vietnam 🇻🇳

Quick facts

• Capital: Hanoi
• Continent: Asia
• Population: 98,186,856
• Area: 331,212 km²
• Density: 296 people per km²
• Currency: VND
• Languages: Vietnamese
• ISO code: VN

Where Vietnam sits

Vietnam 🇻🇳 is one of 48 countries in Asia, with its capital at Hanoi. It covers 331,212 square kilometres — 66th in the world — and is home to about 98,186,856 people, 16th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Vietnam compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Vietnam sits closest to Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iran. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Malaysia and Finland.

At 296 people per square kilometre it is about 5.0 times the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

Vietnamese is listed as official in Vietnam alone. The VND is used by Vietnam and no one else.

To see Vietnam next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Vietnam

Hanoi is in the north, in the Red River Delta, while the largest city, Ho Chi Minh City, is in the south. If you are torn between the two, the capital is the northern one. For the flag, one gold star on plain red.

The flag of Vietnam: red and yellow

🇻🇳 The flag is a red flag with a large five-pointed yellow star in the centre. Red stands for revolution and blood. The five points of the star stand for five groups of people, farmers, workers, intellectuals, traders and soldiers, who unite to build socialism.

Region and neighbours

Vietnam is a country on the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, lying along the South China Sea to the east and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. It shares land borders with 3 countries: China, Laos and Cambodia.

• China 🇨🇳 — capital Beijing
• Laos 🇱🇦 — capital Vientiane
• Cambodia 🇰🇭 — capital Phnom Penh

Three facts about Vietnam

1. Vietnam has been the world's second-largest rice exporter, after Thailand, since the 1990s.
2. Vietnam is one of two communist states in Southeast Asia; the other is Laos.
3. Hanoi is home to the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long and Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

Sources: Wikipedia: Vietnam, Wikipedia: Flag of Vietnam, Wikipedia: Hanoi, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Vietnam

• Asian capitals quiz — match Vietnam to Hanoi
• Asian flags quiz — spot the Vietnam flag among its neighbours

Quizzes that include Vietnam

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Vietnam those are:

• Asia map quiz — place it on a blank map
• Asia flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
• Asia capitals quiz — match it to Hanoi
• Vietnam capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Vietnam, plus the answer quizzes most often try to trick you with
• Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Vietnam

• Capital of Vietnam: Hanoi — the capital in detail, with size and density rankings
• All 48 countries of Asia

Nearby countries

• Afghanistan 🇦🇫 — capital Kabul
• Armenia 🇦🇲 — capital Yerevan
• Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 — capital Baku
• Bahrain 🇧🇭 — capital Manama
• Bangladesh 🇧🇩 — capital Dhaka
• Bhutan 🇧🇹 — capital Thimphu
• Brunei 🇧🇳 — capital Bandar Seri Begawan
• Cambodia 🇰🇭 — capital Phnom Penh
• China 🇨🇳 — capital Beijing
• Georgia 🇬🇪 — capital Tbilisi
• India 🇮🇳 — capital New Delhi
• Indonesia 🇮🇩 — capital Jakarta

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Vietnam flag?

The flag of Vietnam is a red flag with a large five-pointed yellow star in the centre. Red stands for revolution and blood. The five points of the star stand for five groups of people, farmers, workers, intellectuals, traders and soldiers, who unite to build socialism.

Which countries border Vietnam?

Vietnam shares land borders with China, Laos and Cambodia.

How can I remember the capital of Vietnam?

Hanoi is in the north, in the Red River Delta, while the largest city, Ho Chi Minh City, is in the south. If you are torn between the two, the capital is the northern one. For the flag, one gold star on plain red.