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Geography, agriculture and economy Viet Nam stretches for 1,650 km along the eastern seaboard of the Indochina Peninsula. Its total land area of 331,700 km2 includes two large deltas — the Red River Delta in the north and the Mekong Delta in the south. Much of the rest of the country is mountainous. The estimated total population in 2003 was 81.3 million, with an annual growth rate of about 1 per cent (World Bank). Agriculture About 70 per cent of the country’s labour force works in agriculture and forestry, but cultivated land is scarce (consisting of 21 per cent of land area) and deforestation is a serious threat to the natural resource base. Gross domestic product (GDP) in 2003 was almost US$40 billion. Agriculture’s share of GDP in 2003 was about 22 per cent, a sharp decrease from 40 per cent of GDP in 1991 (World Bank). Rice accounts for more than half of total agricultural output. Viet Nam is the world’s second largest exporter of rice after Thailand. Farmers also produce robusta coffee, rubber, sugar cane and cashew. Economy The country has achieved impressive economic success over the past decades, largely in response to economic reforms initiated under the policies of Doi Moi, the transformation of the centrally planned economy into a market-oriented economy, launched in 1986. Gross National Income (GNI) per person was on the rise from US$430 in 2002 to US$ 480 in 2003 (World Bank). Source: IFAD |
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