What is the capital of Vietnam?

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam. It was eclipsed by Huế, the imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945), but Hanoi served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1954. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Việt Nam, and it became the capital of a reunified Vietnam in 1976, after the North's victory in the Vietnam war.

ABU TV Song Festival 2013

The ABU TV Song Festival 2013 was the second annual edition of the ABU TV Song Festivals. The festival, which is non-competitive, that took place on 26 October 2013 in the Hanoi Opera House, Hanoi, Vietnam and coinciding with the 50th general assembly of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) which took place between 23 and 29 October 2013. Sixteen songs from fifteen countries participated in the second edition of the event.,,, and made their début at the festival

The city is located on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is located at north of Ho Chi Minh City and at west of Hai Phong city.

Initially, Vietnam Cultural Friendship Hall was chosen as the festival's venue. The venue was later changed to Hanoi Opera House, which was smaller in terms of capacity (nearly 600 seats in comparison to 1100 seats of the former)

Vietnam Television will be the host broadcaster for the second edition of the annual Song Festival. The venue for the 2013 TV Song Festival is the Hanoi Opera House in central Hanoi, Vietnam.

Unlike the format used in the Eurovision Song Contest there are two versions of the ABU Song Festivals. The ABU Radio Song Festival which is a biennial competitive event and the ABU TV Song Festival which is an annual non-competitive event. The TV Song Festival is scheduled to take place on 26 October 2013, in conjunction with the 50th ABU General Assembly which takes place between 23 and 29 October 2013. During the TV Festival, musicians from participating countries will perform a song from their repertoire in a musical gala presentation.

A total of fifteen countries took part in the 2013 ABU TV Song Festival.
Each participating country was invited to broadcast the event across their respective networks and provide commentary in the native languages to add insight and description to the shows.

This list of historical capitals of Vietnam includes former capital cities as well as the current capital of Vietnam which is Hanoi in time order. The capitals in bold indicate long-term or important capitals in Vietnamese history while the capitals in "italic" indicate short-lived or transient capitals.

List of historical capitals of Vietnam

Some secondary unofficial capitals also existed throughout Vietnamese history. These secondary capitals were established by dynasty founders merely as symbolic capitals to pay tribute to their ancestors.

Ba Đình is an urban district of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Ba Dinh is the political center of Vietnam. Most of the government offices and embassies are located here. It was formerly called the "French Quarter" ("Khu phố Pháp") because of a high concentration of French-styled villas and government buildings built when Hanoi was the capital of French Indochina. This name is still used in travel literature. The wreckage of a B-52 bomber shot down during the Vietnam War can be seen in Huu Tiep Lake in the Ngoc Ha neighborhood. The Southern half of Hoàn Kiếm district is also called a "French Quarter" also because of a large number of French-styled buildings, most of which are now used as foreign embassies.

Ba Đình District

It's surround at the north by Tây Hồ, to the east by Red River, to the south by Đống Đa, to the southeast by Hoàn Kiếm, to the west by Cầu Giấy.

The district contains 14 wards ("phường")

International schools:

Vietnam (, ; ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula. With an estimated /1e6 round 1 million inhabitants, it is the 15th most populous country in the world. Vietnam is bordered by China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, part of Thailand to the southwest, and the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia across the South China Sea to the east and southeast. Its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976, while its most populous city is Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam

The northern part of Vietnam was part of Imperial China for over a millennium, from 111 BC to AD 939. An independent Vietnamese state was formed in 939, following Vietnamese victory in the battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese imperial dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonised by the French in the mid-19th century. Following a Japanese occupation in the 1940s, the Vietnamese fought French rule in the First Indochina War. On 2 September 1945, President Hồ Chí Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France under the new name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In 1954, the Vietnamese declared victory in the battle of Điện Biên Phủ which took place between March and May 1954 and culminated in a major French defeat. Thereafter, Vietnam was divided politically into two rival states, North Vietnam (officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (officially the Republic of Vietnam). Conflict between the two sides intensified in what is known as the Vietnam War with heavy intervention by the United States on the side of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1973. The war ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975. Vietnam was then unified under a communist government but remained impoverished and politically isolated. In 1986, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) initiated a series of economic and political reforms that began Vietnam's path toward integration into the world economy.

By 2010, it had established diplomatic relations with 178 countries. Since 2000, Vietnam's economic growth rate has been among the highest in the world, and in 2011, it had the highest Global Growth Generators Index among 11 major economies. Its successful economic reforms resulted in its joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007. Vietnam is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

The name () is a variation of (; literally "Southern "Việt""), a name that can be traced back to the Triệu dynasty of the 2nd century BC. The word "Việt" originated as a shortened form of Bách Việt (), a group of people then living in southern China and Vietnam. The form "Vietnam" () is first recorded in the 16th-century oracular poem "Sấm Trạng Trình". The name has also been found on 12 steles carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including one at Bao Lam Pagoda in Hải Phòng that dates to 1558. In 1802, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (later become Emperor Gia Long) established the Nguyễn dynasty, and in the second year, he asked the Jiaqing Emperor of the Qing dynasty to confer him the title 'King of Nam Viet/Nanyue' ( in Chinese) after seizing Annam's ruling power but the latter refused since the name was related to Zhao Tuo's Nanyue which includes the regions of Guangxi and Guangdong in southern China by which the Qing Emperor decide to call the area as "Viet Nam" instead. Between 1804 and 1813, the name Vietnam was used officially by Emperor Gia Long. It was revived in the early 20th century by Phan Bội Châu's "History of the Loss of Vietnam", and later by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (VNQDĐ). The country was usually called Annam until 1945, when both the imperial government in Huế and the Việt Minh government in Hanoi adopted.

Archaeological excavations have revealed the existence of humans in what is now Vietnam as early as the Paleolithic age. "Homo erectus" fossils dating to around 500,000 BC have been found in caves in Lạng Sơn and Nghệ An provinces in northern Vietnam. The oldest "Homo sapiens" fossils from mainland Southeast Asia are of Middle Pleistocene provenance, and include isolated tooth fragments from Tham Om and Hang Hum. Teeth attributed to "Homo sapiens" from the Late Pleistocene have also been found at Dong Can, and from the Early Holocene at Mai Da Dieu, Lang Gao and Lang Cuom. By about 1,000 BC, the development of wet-rice cultivation and bronze casting in the Ma River and Red River floodplains led to the flourishing of the Đông Sơn culture, notable for its elaborate bronze Đông Sơn drums. At this time, the early Vietnamese kingdoms of Văn Lang and Âu Lạc appeared, and the culture's influence spread to other parts of Southeast Asia, including Maritime Southeast Asia, throughout the first millennium BC.

The Hồng Bàng dynasty of the Hùng kings is considered the first Vietnamese state, known in Vietnamese as Văn Lang. In 257 BC, the last Hùng king was defeated by Thục Phán, who consolidated the Lạc Việt and Âu Việt tribes to form the Âu Lạc, proclaiming himself An Dương Vương. In 179 BC, a Chinese general named Zhao Tuo defeated An Dương Vương and consolidated Âu Lạc into Nanyue. However, Nanyue was itself incorporated into the empire of the Chinese Han dynasty in 111 BC after the Han–Nanyue War. For the next thousand years, what is now northern Vietnam remained mostly under Chinese rule. Early independence movements, such as those of the Trưng Sisters and Lady Triệu, were only temporarily successful, though the region gained a longer period of independence as Vạn Xuân under the Anterior Lý dynasty between AD 544 and 602. By the early 10th century, Vietnam had gained autonomy, but not sovereignty, under the Khúc family.
In AD 938, the Vietnamese lord Ngô Quyền defeated the forces of the Chinese Southern Han state at Bạch Đằng River and achieved full independence for Vietnam after a millennium of Chinese domination. Renamed as Đại Việt ("Great Viet"), the nation enjoyed a golden era under the Lý and Trần dynasties. During the rule of the Trần Dynasty, Đại Việt repelled three Mongol invasions. Meanwhile, Buddhism of Mahāyāna tradition flourished and became the state religion. Following the 1406–7 Ming–Hồ War which overthrew the Hồ dynasty, Vietnamese independence was briefly interrupted by the Chinese Ming dynasty, but was restored by Lê Lợi, the founder of the Lê dynasty. The Vietnamese dynasties reached their zenith in the Lê dynasty of the 15th century, especially during the reign of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông (1460–1497). Between the 11th and 18th centuries, Vietnam expanded southward in a process known as ("southward expansion"), eventually conquering the kingdom of Champa and part of the Khmer Empire.

From the 16th century onward, civil strife and frequent political infighting engulfed much of Vietnam. First, the Chinese-supported Mạc dynasty challenged the Lê dynasty's power. After the Mạc dynasty was defeated, the Lê dynasty was nominally reinstalled, but actual power was divided between the northern Trịnh lords and the southern Nguyễn lords, who engaged in a civil war for more than four decades before a truce was called in the 1670s. During this time, the Nguyễn expanded southern Vietnam into the Mekong Delta, annexing the Central Highlands and the Khmer lands in the Mekong Delta. The division of the country ended a century later when the Tây Sơn brothers established a new dynasty. However, their rule did not last long, and they were defeated by the remnants of the Nguyễn lords, led by Nguyễn Ánh and aided by the French. Nguyễn Ánh unified Vietnam, and established the Nguyễn dynasty, ruling under the name Gia Long.

Since the 1500s, the Portuguese have become acquainted with Vietnamese coast where they reportedly erected a stele in Chàm Islands to mark their presence. By 1533, the Portuguese began to land into the Vietnamese delta but were forced to leave due to local turmoil and fighting. They also had less interest in the territory than in both kingdoms in China and Japan. After having successfully settled Macau and Nagasaki to began the profitable Macau-Japan trade, the Portuguese began to be involved in trade with Hội An where many Portuguese traders and their Catholic missionaries set their foot into the Vietnamese kingdom. The Dutch also tried to establish contact with Vietnam through the central part of Quinam in 1601 but failed to mantain long presence there after several violent encounter with the locals. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) only managed to establish official relations with Tonkin in the spring of 1637 after leaving Dejima in Japan to establishing trade for silk. Meanwhile, the English first attempt through the East India Company (EIC) to establishing contact with Hội An in 1613 are failed following a violent incident involving their merchant but the English return to establishing relations with Tonkin by 1672 where they were allowed to reside in Phố Hiến.

From between 1615–1753, French traders also have engaged in trade in the area around Đàng Trong and actively spreading missionaries. Following the detention of several missionaries as the Vietnamese kingdom feel threatened with the continuous Christianisation activities, the French Navy received approval from their government to intervene in Vietnam in 1834 with the aim to free imprisoned Catholic missionaries from a kingdom that was perceived as xenophobic against foreign influence. Vietnam's kingdom independence was then gradually eroded by France which was aided by the Spanish and large Catholic militias in a series of military conquests between 1859 and 1885. In 1862, the southern third of the country became the French colony of Cochinchina. By 1884, the entire country had come under French rule, with the central and northern parts of Vietnam separated in the two protectorates of Annam and Tonkin. The three Vietnamese entities were formally integrated into the union of French Indochina in 1887. The French administration imposed significant political and cultural changes on Vietnamese society. A Western-style system of modern education was developed and Catholicism was propagated widely. Most French settlers in Indochina were concentrated in Cochinchina, particularly in the region of Saigon and in Hanoi, the capital of the colony.

Guerrillas of the royalist Cần Vương movement massacred around a third of Vietnam's Christian population during the colonial period as part of their rebellion against French rule, but were defeated in the 1890s after a decade of resistance by the Catholics as a reprisal of their earlier massacres. Another large-scale rebellion, the Thái Nguyên uprising was also suppressed heavily. The French developed a plantation economy to promote the export of tobacco, indigo, tea and coffee, however, they largely ignored the increasing demands for civil rights and self-government. A nationalist political movement soon emerged, with leaders such as Phan Bội Châu, Phan Châu Trinh, Phan Đình Phùng, Emperor Hàm Nghi, and Hồ Chí Minh fighting or calling for independence. This resulted in the 1930 Yên Bái mutiny by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (VNQDĐ) which was suppressed heavily by the French. The mutiny caused an irreparable split that resulted in many leading members of the organisation becoming communist converts. The French maintained full control over their colonies until World War II, when the war in the Pacific led to the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in 1940. Afterwards, the Japanese Empire was allowed to station its troops in Vietnam while permitting the pro-Vichy French colonial administration to continue. Japan exploited Vietnam's natural resources to support its military campaigns, culminating in a full-scale takeover of the country in March 1945 and the Vietnamese Famine of 1945, which caused up to two million deaths.

In 1941, the Việt Minh which is a nationalist liberation movement based on a Communist ideology emerged under the Vietnamese revolutionary leader Hồ Chí Minh who sought independence for Vietnam from France and the end of the Japanese occupation. Following the military defeat of Japan and the fall of its puppet Empire of Vietnam in August 1945, anarchy, rioting and murder were widespread since Saigon's administrative services collapsed. The Việt Minh occupied Hanoi and proclaimed a provisional government, which asserted national independence on 2 September. Earlier in July, the Allies decide to divide Indochina into half at the 16th parallel to allow Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China receive Japanese surrender in the north while Lord Louis Mountbatten of the British receive the surrender in the south with the Allies agreeing that Indochina belonged to France.
However, as the French were weakened as a result of German occupation, the British-Indian forces together with the remaining Japanese Southern Expeditionary Army Group were used to maintain order and to help France re-establish control through the 1945–1946 War in Vietnam. Hồ Chí Minh at the time chose a moderate stance to avoid military conflict with France by which he asked the French to withdraw their colonial administrators, and asked for aid from French professors and engineers to help build a modern independent Vietnam. These requests, including the idea for independence, however could not be accepted by the Provisional Government of the French Republic, which dispatched the French Far East Expeditionary Corps instead to restore colonial rule, causing the Việt Minh to launch a guerrilla campaign against the French in late 1946. Matters also turned worse when the Republic of China gradually fell to the communists in the Chinese Communist Revolution. The resulting First Indochina War lasted until July 1954. The defeat of French and Vietnamese loyalists in the 1954 battle of Điện Biên Phủ allowed Hồ Chí Minh to negotiate a ceasefire from a favourable position at the subsequent Geneva Conference.

The colonial administration was ended and French Indochina was dissolved under the Geneva Accords of 1954 into three countries: Vietnam and the kingdoms of Cambodia and Laos. Vietnam was further divided into North and South administrative regions at the Demilitarised Zone, approximately along the 17th parallel north, pending elections scheduled for July 1956. A 300-day period of free movement was permitted, during which almost a million northerners, mainly Catholics, moved south, fearing persecution by the communists. The partition of Vietnam was not intended to be permanent by the Geneva Accords, which stipulated that Vietnam would be reunited after elections in 1956. However, in 1955, the State of Vietnam's Prime Minister, Ngô Đình Diệm toppled Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum organised by his brother Ngô Đình Nhu, and proclaimed himself president of the Republic of Vietnam. At that point the internationally recognised State of Vietnam effectively ceased to exist and was replaced by the Republic of Vietnam in the south and Hồ Chí Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north.

Between 1953 and 1956, the North Vietnamese government instituted various agrarian reforms, including "rent reduction" and "land reform", which resulted in significant political oppression. During the land reform, testimony from North Vietnamese witnesses suggested a ratio of one execution for every 160 village residents, which extrapolated nationwide would indicate nearly 100,000 executions. Because the campaign was concentrated mainly in the Red River Delta area, a lower estimate of 50,000 executions became widely accepted by scholars at the time. However, declassified documents from the Vietnamese and Hungarian archives indicate that the number of executions was much lower than reported at the time, although likely greater than 13,500. In the South, Diệm countered North Vietnamese subversion (including the assassination of over 450 South Vietnamese officials in 1956) by detaining tens of thousands of suspected communists in "political re-education centres". This was a ruthless program that incarcerated many non-communists, although it was also successful at curtailing communist activity in the country, if only for a time. The North Vietnamese government claimed that 2,148 individuals were killed in the process by November 1957. The pro-Hanoi Việt Cộng began a guerrilla campaign in the late 1950s to overthrow Diệm's government. From 1960, the Soviet Union and North Vietnam signed treaties providing for further Soviet military support.
In 1963, Buddhist discontent with Diệm's regime erupted into mass demonstrations, leading to a violent government crackdown. This led to the collapse of Diệm's relationship with the United States, and ultimately to the 1963 coup in which Diệm and Nhu were assassinated. The Diệm era was followed by more than a dozen successive military governments, before the pairing of Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ and General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu took control in mid-1965. Thiệu gradually outmaneuvered Kỳ and cemented his grip on power in fraudulent elections in 1967 and 1971. Under this political instability, the communists began to gain ground. To support South Vietnam's struggle against the communist insurgency, the United States began increasing its contribution of military advisers, using the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident as a pretext for such intervention. US forces became involved in ground combat operations in 1965, and at their peak they numbered more than 500,000. The US also engaged in a sustained aerial bombing campaign. Meanwhile, China and the Soviet Union provided North Vietnam with significant material aid and 15,000 combat advisers. Communist forces supplying the Việt Cộng carried supplies along the Hồ Chí Minh trail, which passed through the Kingdom of Laos.
The communists attacked South Vietnamese targets during the 1968 Tết Offensive. Although the campaign failed militarily, it shocked the American establishment, and turned US public opinion against the war. During the offensive, communist troops massacred over 3,000 civilians at Huế. Facing an increasing casualty count, rising domestic opposition to the war, and growing international condemnation, the US began withdrawing from ground combat roles in the early 1970s. This process also entailed an unsuccessful effort to strengthen and stabilise South Vietnam. Following the Paris Peace Accords of 27 January 1973, all American combat troops were withdrawn by 29 March 1973. In December 1974, North Vietnam captured the province of Phước Long and started a full-scale offensive, culminating in the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. South Vietnam was briefly ruled by a provisional government for almost eight years while under military occupation by North Vietnam.

On 2 July 1976, North and South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The war left Vietnam devastated, with the total death toll standing at between 966,000 and 3.8 million. In the aftermath of the war, under Lê Duẩn's administration, there were no mass executions of South Vietnamese who had collaborated with the US and the defunct South Vietnamese government, confounding Western fears. However, up to 300,000 South Vietnamese were sent to re-education camps, where many endured torture, starvation and disease while being forced to perform hard labour. The government embarked on a mass campaign of collectivisation of farms and factories. In 1978, as a response towards the Khmer Rouge who had been invading and massacring Vietnamese residents in the border villages in the districts of An Giang and Kiên Giang, the Vietnamese military invaded Cambodia and removed them from power after overtaking Phnom Penh. The intervention was a success, resulting in the establishment of a new pro-Vietnam socialist government, the People's Republic of Kampuchea which ruled until 1989. This action however worsened relations with China, who had been supporting the Khmer Rouge where they later launched a brief incursion into northern Vietnam in 1979 and causing Vietnam to rely even more heavily on Soviet economic and military aid with the mistrust towards the Chinese government began to escalate.
At the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in December 1986, reformist politicians replaced the "old guard" government with new leadership. The reformers were led by 71-year-old Nguyễn Văn Linh, who became the party's new general secretary. Linh and the reformers implemented a series of free-market reforms known as ("Renovation") which carefully managed the transition from a planned economy to a "socialist-oriented market economy". Though the authority of the state remained unchallenged under "Đổi Mới", the government encouraged private ownership of farms and factories, economic deregulation and foreign investment, while maintaining control over strategic industries. The Vietnamese economy subsequently achieved strong growth in agricultural and industrial production, construction, exports and foreign investment despite through these reforms also have caused a rise in income inequality and gender disparities.

Vietnam is located on the eastern Indochinese Peninsula between the latitudes 8° and 24°N, and the longitudes 102° and 110°E. It covers a total area of approximately. The combined length of the country's land boundaries is, and its coastline is long. At its narrowest point in the central Quảng Bình Province, the country is as little as across, though it widens to around in the north. Vietnam's land is mostly hilly and densely forested, with level land covering no more than 20%. Mountains account for 40% of the country's land area, and tropical forests cover around 42%. The Red River Delta in the north, a flat, roughly triangular region covering, is smaller but more intensely developed and more densely populated than the Mekong River Delta in the south. Once an inlet of the Gulf of Tonkin, it has been filled in over the millennia by riverine alluvial deposits. The delta, covering about, is a low-level plain no more than above sea level at any point. It is criss-crossed by a maze of rivers and canals, which carry so much sediment that the delta advances into the sea every year.
Southern Vietnam is divided into coastal lowlands, the mountains of the Annamite Range, and extensive forests. Comprising five relatively flat plateaus of basalt soil, the highlands account for 16% of the country's arable land and 22% of its total forested land. The soil in much of southern part of Vietnam is relatively low in nutrients as a result of intense cultivation. Several minor earthquakes have been recorded in the past with most occurred near the northern Vietnamese border in the provinces of Điện Biên, Lào Cai and Sơn La while some are recorded in the offshore of the central part of the country. The northern part of the country consists mostly of highlands and the Red River Delta. Fansipan (also called as Phan Xi Păng) which is located in Lào Cai Province is the highest mountain in Vietnam, standing high. From north to south Vietnam, the country also has numerous islands with Phú Quốc being the largest. The Hang Sơn Đoòng Cave is considered as the current largest cave passage in the world since its discovery in 2009 while both the Ba Bể Lake and Mekong River being the largest lake and longest river in the country respectively.

Due to differences in latitude and the marked variety in topographical relief, the climate tends to vary considerably for each region. During the winter or dry season, extending roughly from November to April, the monsoon winds usually blow from the northeast along the Chinese coast and across the Gulf of Tonkin, picking up considerable moisture. The average annual temperature is generally higher in the plains than in the mountains, especially in southern Vietnam compared to the north. Temperatures vary less in the southern plains around Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, ranging from between over the course of the year. In Hanoi and the surrounding areas of Red River Delta, the temperatures are much lower between, while seasonal variations in the mountains and plateaus and in the northernmost are much more dramatic, with temperatures varying from in December and January to in July and August. As Vietnam received high rain precipitation with an average amount of rainfall from 1,500 millimitres to 2,000 millimetres during the monsoon seasons; this often causes flooding, especially in the cities with poor drainage systems. The country is also affected by tropical depressions, tropical storms and typhoons.

As the country is located inside the Indomalayan realm, Vietnam is one of twenty-five countries considered to possess a uniquely high level of biodiversity as also been stated in the country National Environmental Condition Report in 2005. It is ranked 16th worldwide in biological diversity, being home to approximately 16% of the world's species. 15,986 species of flora have been identified in the country, of which 10% are endemic, while Vietnam's fauna include 307 nematode species, 200 oligochaeta, 145 acarina, 113 springtails, 7,750 insects, 260 reptiles, 120 amphibians, 840 birds and 310 mammals, of which 100 birds and 78 mammals are endemic. Vietnam has two World Natural Heritage Sites, the Hạ Long Bay and Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park together with nine biosphere reserves including Cần Giờ Mangrove Forest, Cát Tiên, Cát Bà, Kiên Giang, the Red River Delta, Mekong Delta, Western Nghệ An, Cà Mau and Cu Lao Cham Marine Park.
Vietnam is furthermore home to 1,438 species of freshwater microalgae, constituting 9.6% of all microalgae species, as well as 794 aquatic invertebrates and 2,458 species of sea fish. In recent years, 13 genera, 222 species, and 30 taxa of flora have been newly described in Vietnam. Six new mammal species, including the saola, giant muntjac and Tonkin snub-nosed monkey have also been discovered, along with one new bird species, the endangered Edwards's pheasant. In the late 1980s, a small population of Javan rhinoceros was found in Cát Tiên National Park. However, the last individual of the species in Vietnam was reportedly shot in 2010. In agricultural genetic diversity, Vietnam is one of the world's twelve original cultivar centres. The Vietnam National Cultivar Gene Bank preserves 12,300 cultivars of 115 species. The Vietnamese government spent US$49.07 million on the preservation of biodiversity in 2004 alone, and has established 126 conservation areas, including 30 national parks.

In Vietnam, poaching had become a main issue for their wildlife. Since 2000, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Education for Nature - Vietnam have been founded to instill the importance of wildlife conservation in the country. Following this, the seeds of the conservation movement starting to bloom with the foundation of another NGO called GreenViet by Vietnamese youngsters for the enforcement of wildlife protection. Through collaboration between the NGO and local authorities, many local poaching syndicates managed to be crippled with the arrestment of their leaders. As Vietnam have also become the main destination for rhinoceros horn illegal export from South Africa, a study in 2018 found the demands are due to medical and health-related reasons. The main environmental concern that persists in Vietnam until present is the chemical herbicide legacy of Agent Orange that causing birth defects and many health problems towards Vietnamese residents especially in the southern and central areas that was affected most by the chemicals with nearly 4.8 million Vietnamese have been exposed. In 2012, approximately 50 years after the war, the United States began to start a US$43 million joint clean up project in the former chemical storage areas in Vietnam that was heavily affected with each clearance will be done through several phases. Following the completion of the first phase in Đà Nẵng in late 2017, the United States announced its further commitment to clean other sites especially in another heavily impact site of Biên Hòa which is four times larger than the previous site with an additional estimate cost of $390 million.
The Vietnamese government spends over VNĐ10 trillion each year ($431.1 million) for monthly allowance and physical rehabilitation of the Vietnamese victims caused by the chemicals. In 2018, Japanese Engineering Group, Shimizu Corporation also working with Vietnamese military to built a plant in Vietnam for the treatment of Agent Orange polluted soils with the plant construction costs to be funded by the company itself. One of the long-term plan to restore the southern Vietnam damaged ecosystems is through reforestation efforts which the Vietnamese government having done since the end of the war, starting with the replantation of mangrove forests in the Mekong Delta regions and in Cần Giờ outside of the main city where mangroves are important to prevent more serious flooding during the monsoon seasons. Apart from herbicide problems, arsenic exposure to ground water in the Mekong Delta and Red River Delta also become a major concern, along with unexploded ordnance (UXO) that poses dangers towards human and habitat life as another bitter legacy from the long wars. As part of the continuous campaign for demining/removal of UXO, various international bomb removal agency including those from the United Kingdom, Denmark, South Korea as well the United States itself has providing help in the process with the Vietnam government spends over VNĐ1 trillion ($44 million) annually on demining operations and another hundreds billions of đồng for treatment, assistance, rehabilitation, vocational training and resettlement for the victims of UXOs. Apart from the explosive removal from the legacy of civil war, the neighbouring Chinese government also has removed 53,000 land mines and explosives from the legacy of war between the two countries in an area of 18.4 square kilometres in neighbouring province of Yunnan between the China–Vietnam border in 2017.

Vietnam is a unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic, one of the two communist states (the other being Laos) in Southeast Asia. Although Vietnam remains officially committed to socialism as its defining creed, its economic policies have grown increasingly capitalist, with "The Economist" characterising its leadership as "ardently capitalist communists". Under the constitution, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) asserts their role in all branches of politics and society in the country. The President is the elected head of state and the commander-in-chief of the military, serving as the Chairman of the Council of Supreme Defence and Security, holds the second highest office in Vietnam as well as performing executive functions and state appointments and setting policy.
The General Secretary of the CPV performs numerous key administrative functions, controlling the party's national organisation. The Prime Minister is the head of government, presiding over a council of ministers composed of five deputy prime ministers and the heads of 26 ministries and commissions. Only political organisations affiliated with or endorsed by the CPV are permitted to contest elections in Vietnam. These include the Vietnamese Fatherland Front and worker and trade unionist parties.
The National Assembly of Vietnam is the unicameral legislature of the state, composed of 498 members. The legislature is open to all parties. Headed by a Chairman, it is superior to both the executive and judicial branches, with all government ministers being appointed from members of the National Assembly. The Supreme People's Court of Vietnam, headed by a Chief Justice, is the country's highest court of appeal, though it is also answerable to the National Assembly. Beneath the Supreme People's Court stand the provincial municipal courts and numerous local courts. Military courts possess special jurisdiction in matters of national security. Vietnam maintains the death penalty for numerous offences.

Throughout its history, Vietnam's main foreign relationship has been with various Chinese dynasties. Following the partition of Vietnam, the relations are divided between relations with Eastern Bloc for North Vietnam while Western Bloc for South Vietnam. Despite the differences, Vietnam's sovereign principles and insistence on cultural independence have been laid down in numerous documents over the centuries since before its independence, such as the 11th-century patriotic poem ""Nam quốc sơn hà"" and the 1428 proclamation of independence ""Bình Ngô đại cáo"". Though China and Vietnam are now formally at peace, significant territorial tensions in the South China Sea remain between the two countries. Vietnam holds membership of 63 international organisations, including the United Nations (UN), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), International Organisation of the Francophonie (La Francophonie) and World Trade Organization (WTO). It also maintains relations with over 650 non-government organisations. Until 2010, Vietnam had established diplomatic relations with 178 countries.

Vietnam current foreign policy is to implement consistently the policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, co-operation and development as well the openness and diversification/multilateralisation of international relations, with the country further declares itself as a friend and partner of all countries in the international community regardless of their political affiliation by actively taking part in international and regional co-operation especially in country development. Since 1990s, several key steps had been taken by Vietnam to restore diplomatic ties with Western countries. Relations with the United States began to improved in August 1995 with both nations upgraded their "liaison" offices to an embassy status. As diplomatic ties between the two nations grew, the United States opened a consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City while Vietnam opened its consulate in San Francisco. Full diplomatic relations were also restored with New Zealand who opened its embassy in Hanoi in 1995, while Vietnam established an embassy in Wellington in 2003. Pakistan also reopened its embassy in Hanoi in October 2000 with Vietnam reopened their embassy in Islamabad in December 2005 and trade office in Karachi in November 2005. In May 2016, US President Barack Obama further normalised relations with Vietnam after he announced the lifting of an arms embargo on sales of lethal arms to Vietnam.

The Vietnam People's Armed Forces consists of the Vietnam People's Army, the Vietnam People's Public Security and the Vietnam Civil Defence Force. The Vietnam People's Army (VPA) is the official name for the active military services of Vietnam, and is subdivided into the Vietnam People's Ground Forces, the Vietnam People's Navy, the Vietnam People's Air Force, the Vietnam Border Defence Force and the Vietnam Coast Guard. The VPA has an active manpower of around 450,000, but its total strength, including paramilitary forces, may be as high as 5,000,000. In 2015, Vietnam's military expenditure totalled approximately US$4.4 billion, equivalent to around 8% of their total government spending. Joint military exercises and war games also being held with Brunei, India, Japan, Laos, Russia, Singapore and the United States.

Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces (Vietnamese: "tỉnh", from the Chinese 省, "shěng"). There are also five municipalities ("thành phố trực thuộc trung ương"), which are administratively on the same level as provinces.

The provinces are subdivided into provincial municipalities ("thành phố trực thuộc tỉnh"), townships ("thị xã") and counties ("huyện"), which are in turn subdivided into towns ("thị trấn") or communes ("xã"). The centrally controlled municipalities are subdivided into districts ("quận") and counties, which are further subdivided into wards ("phường").

Under the current constitution, the Communist Party of Vietnam is the only one allowed to rule, the operation of all other political parties being outlawed. Other human rights issues concern freedom of association, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. In 2009, Vietnamese lawyer Lê Công Định was arrested and charged with the capital crime of subversion; several of his associates were also arrested. Amnesty International named him and his arrested associates prisoners of conscience.

Throughout the history of Vietnam, its economy has been largely on agriculture based on wet rice cultivation. There is also an industry for bauxite mining in central Vietnam, an important material for the production of aluminium. Since reunification, the country economy is shaped primarily by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) through the Five Year Plans which are being decided from the plenary sessions of the Central Committee and national congresses. The collectivisation of farms, factories and capital goods was carried out as components in establishing central planning, with millions of people working in state enterprises. Despite strict state control, Vietnam's economy continued to be plagued with inefficiency and corruption in state-owned enterprises, poor quality and underproduction. With the decrease of Soviet economic aid as the main trading partners for Vietnam following the erosion of the Eastern bloc in the late 1980s and subsequent Soviet Union collapse in addition to the negative impacts from the post-war trade embargo imposed by the United States, Vietnam began to liberalise its trade by devaluing its exchange rate to increase exports and embark on a policy of economic development.
In 1986, the Sixth National Congress of the CPV introduced socialist-oriented market economic reforms as part of the "Đổi Mới" reform program with private ownership began to be encouraged in industries, commerce and agriculture and state enterprises were restructured to operate under market constraints, resulting the old-fashioned five-year economic plans are being replaced with socialist market mechanism. As a result of these reforms, Vietnam achieved around 8% annual Gross domestic product (GDP) growth between 1990 and 1997, with the United States also ended its economic embargo against Vietnam in early 1994. Despite the 1997 Asian financial crisis affecting Vietnam and causing economic slow down to 4-5% growth "per annum", its economy began to recover in 1999, with growth at an annual rate of around 7% from 2000 to 2005 and making the country as one of the world's fastest growing economies. According to General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO), growth remained strong even in the face of the late-2000s global recession, holding at 6.8% in 2010, although Vietnam's year-on-year inflation rate hit 11.8% in December 2010 with the country currency, the Vietnamese đồng are being devalued three times.
Deep poverty which defined as the percentage of the population living on less than $1 per day has declined significantly in Vietnam and the relative poverty rate is now less than that of China, India and the Philippines. This decline in the poverty rate can be attributed to equitable economic policies aimed at improving living standards and preventing the rise of inequality; these policies have included egalitarian land distribution during the initial stages of the "Đổi Mới" program, investment in poorer remote areas, and subsidising of education and healthcare. Since the early 2000s, Vietnam has applied sequenced trade liberalisation, a two-track approach opening some sectors of the economy to international markets. Manufacturing, information technology and high-tech industries now form a large and fast-growing part of the national economy. Though Vietnam is a relative newcomer to the oil industry, it is currently the third-largest oil producer in Southeast Asia with a total 2011 output of. In 2010, Vietnam was ranked as the 8th largest crude petroleum producers in the Asia and Pacific region. The United States was the country that purchased the highest amount of Vietnam's exports, while goods from China were the most popular Vietnamese import.

According to a December 2005 forecast by Goldman Sachs, the Vietnamese economy will become the world's 21st-largest by 2025, with an estimated nominal GDP of $436 billion and a nominal GDP per capita of $4,357. Based on a findings by International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2012, the unemployment rate in Vietnam stood at 4.46%. Along the same year, Vietnam's nominal GDP reached US$138 billion, with a nominal GDP per capita of $1,527. The HSBC also predicted that Vietnam's total GDP would surpass those of Norway, Singapore and Portugal by 2050. Another forecast by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2008 stating that Vietnam may be the fastest-growing of the world's emerging economies by 2025, with a potential growth rate of almost 10% "per annum" in real dollar terms. Apart from the primary sector economy, tourism has contributed significantly to Vietnam's economic growth with 7.94 million foreign visitors are recorded in 2015.

As a result of several land reform measures, Vietnam has become a major exporter of agricultural products. It is now the world's largest producer of cashew nuts, with a one-third global share; the largest producer of black pepper, accounting for one-third of the world's market; and the second-largest rice exporter in the world after Thailand since the 1990s. Subsequently, Vietnam is also the world's second largest exporter of coffee. The country has the highest proportion of land use for permanent crops together with other nations in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Other primary exports include tea, rubber and fishery products although agriculture's share of Vietnam's GDP has fallen in recent decades, declining from 42% in 1989 to 20% in 2006 as production in other sectors of the economy has risen.

In 2010, Vietnam's total state spending on science and technology equalled around 0.45% of its GDP. Since the dynastic era, Vietnamese scholars has developed many academic fields especially in social sciences and humanities. Vietnam has a millennium-deep legacy of analytical histories, such as the "Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư" of Ngô Sĩ Liên. Vietnamese monks led by the abdicated Emperor Trần Nhân Tông developed the Trúc Lâm Zen branch of philosophy in the 13th century. Arithmetics and geometry have been widely taught in Vietnam since the 15th century, using the textbook "Đại thành toán pháp" by Lương Thế Vinh as a basis. Lương Thế Vinh introduced Vietnam to the notion of zero, while Mạc Hiển Tích used the term "số ẩn" (en: "unknown/secret/hidden number") to refer to negative numbers. Vietnamese scholars furthermore produced numerous encyclopaedias, such as Lê Quý Đôn's "Vân đài loại ngữ". In modern times, Vietnamese scientists have made many significant contributions in various fields of study, most notably in mathematics. Hoàng Tụy pioneered the applied mathematics field of global optimisation in the 20th century, while Ngô Bảo Châu won the 2010 Fields Medal for his proof of fundamental lemma in the theory of automorphic forms. Since the establishment of Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) by the government in 1975, the country is working to develop its first national space flight program especially after the completion of the infrastructure of Vietnam Space Centre (VSC) in 2018. Vietnam has also made significant advances in the development of robots, such as the TOPIO humanoid model. Vietnam's main messaging apps, Zalo is developed by Vương Quang Khải, a Vietnamese hacker who later work with the country largest information technology service company, the FPT Group.
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Vietnam devoted 0.19% of its GDP for science research and development in 2011. Between 2005 and 2014, the number of scientific publications recorded in Thomson Reuters' Web of Science increased at a rate well above the average for Southeast Asia, albeit from a modest starting point. Publications focus mainly on life sciences (22%), physics (13%) and engineering (13%), which is consistent with recent advances in the production of diagnostic equipment and shipbuilding. Almost 77% of all papers published between 2008 and 2014 had at least one international co-author. The autonomy which Vietnamese research centres have enjoyed since the mid-1990s has enabled many of them to operate as quasi-private organisations, providing services such as consulting and technology development. Some have'spun off' from the larger institutions to form their own semi-private enterprises, fostering the transfer of public sector science and technology personnel to these semi-private establishments. One comparatively new university, the Tôn Đức Thắng University which built in 1997 has already set up 13 centres for technology transfer and services that together produce 15% of university revenue. Many of these research centres serve as valuable intermediaries bridging public research institutions, universities and firms.

Tourism is an important element of economic activity in the country, contributing 7.5% of the gross domestic product. Vietnam welcomed over 12.9 million visitors in 2017, an increase of 29.1% over the previous year, making Vietnam one of the fastest growing tourist destination in recent years. The vast majority of visitors to Vietnam in 2017 came from Asia, numbering 9.7 million. China (4 million), South Korea (2.6 million) and Japan (798,119) made up half of all international arrivals in 2017. Vietnam also attracts large numbers of visitors from Europe with almost 1.9 millions vistors in 2017. Russia (574,164), United Kingdom (283,537), followed closely by France (255,396) and Germany (199,872) were the largest source of international arrivals from Europe. Other significant international arrivals by nationality include the United States (614,117) and Australia (370,438). The most visited destinations in Vietnam is Ho Chi Minh City with an 5.8 million international arrivals, followed by Hanoi with 4.6 million and Hạ Long, including Hạ Long Bay with 4.4 million arrivals. All three are ranked in the top 100 most visited cities in the world. Vietnam is home to 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the equal highest by number of sites in Southeast Asia. In 2018, Travel + Leisure ranked Hội An as the world's top 15 best destinations to visit.

Much of Vietnam's modern transportation network traced its roots since the French colonial era where it was used to facilitate the transportation of raw materials to main ports before being extensively expanded and modernised following the partition of Vietnam. Vietnam's road system includes national roads administered at the central level, provincial roads managed at the provincial level, district roads managed at the district level, urban roads managed by cities and towns and commune roads managed at the commune level. In 2010, Vietnam road system has a total length of about with are asphalt road comprising national, provincial and district roads. The national road system length is about with of its length are paved, the provincial road has around paved road while district road has paved road.

Bicycles, motorcycles and motor scooters remain the most popular forms of road transport in the country as one of the legacy of French through transportation although the number of privately owned cars have been rising in recent years. Public buses operated by private companies are the main mode of long-distance travel for much of the population. Road accidents remain the major safety issue in Vietnamese transportation with an average of 30 people lost their lives daily, while traffic congestion is a growing problem in both major cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City especially with the growing of individual car ownership. Vietnam's primary cross-country rail service is the Reunification Express from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi with a distance of nearly. From Hanoi, railway lines branch out to the northeast, north and west; the eastbound line runs from Hanoi to Hạ Long Bay, the northbound line from Hanoi to Thái Nguyên, and the northeast line from Hanoi to Lào Cai. In 2009, Vietnam and Japan signed a deal to build a high-speed railway by using the technology of Japanese "Shinkansen"; numerous Vietnamese engineers were later sent to Japan to receive training in the operation and maintenance of high-speed trains. The planned railway will be a long express route serving a total of 23 stations including in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with 70% of its route will running on bridges and through underground tunnels, while the trains will travelling at a maximum speed of per hour. The plan for the country first high-speed rail however are being postponed with the Vietnamese government made a decision to putting the main priority on the development of both Hanoi Metro and Ho Chi Minh City Metro as well the expansion of road networks instead.
Vietnam operates 20 major civil airports, including three international gateways: Noi Bai in Hanoi, Da Nang International Airport in Đà Nẵng and Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City. Tan Son Nhat is the nation's largest airport by which it handling the majority of international passenger traffic. According to a state-approved plan, Vietnam will have another seven international airports by 2015, these include Vinh International Airport, Phu Bai International Airport, Cam Ranh International Airport, Phu Quoc International Airport, Cat Bi International Airport, Can Tho International Airport and Long Thanh International Airport. The planned Long Thanh International Airport will have an annual service capacity of 100 million passengers once it becomes fully operational in 2025. Vietnam Airlines, the state-owned national airline maintains a fleet of 86 passenger aircraft and aims to operate 170 by 2020. Several private airlines are also in operation in Vietnam, including Air Mekong, Bamboo Airways, Jetstar Pacific Airlines, VASCO and VietJet Air. As a coastal country, Vietnam has many major sea ports, including Cam Ranh, Đà Nẵng, Hải Phòng, Ho Chi Minh City, Hạ Long, Qui Nhơn, Vũng Tàu, Cửa Lò and Nha Trang. Further inland, the country's extensive network of rivers play a key role in rural transportation with over of navigable waterways carrying ferries, barges and water taxis.

Vietnam's energy sector is largely dominated by Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) nationwide. As of 2017, EVN contributed about 61.4% of the country power generation system with a total power capacity of 25,884 MW. Other energy source are distributed by PetroVietnam (4,435 MW), Vinacomin (1,785 MW) and by build–operate–transfer (BOT) with other investors (10,031 MW). Most of the powers are generated from either hydropower, fossil fuel power such as coal, oil and gas while the remaining are from diesel, small hydropower and renewable energy. The Vietnamese government also previously planning to develop their first nuclear reactor as the path to establish another source of electric energy from nuclear power but the plan was abandoned in late 2016 with a majority oppose vote through the country National Assembly due to large concerns from Vietnamese society over radioactive contamination. The household gas sector in Vietnam is dominated by PetroVietnam which controls nearly 70% of the country domestic market for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Since 2011, the company also operating five renewable energy power plants including the Nhơn Trạch 2 Thermal Power Plant (750 MW), Phú Quý Wind Power Plant (6 MW), Hủa Na Hydro-power Plant (180 MW), Dakdrinh Hydro-power Plant (125 MW) and Vũng Áng 1 Thermal Power Plant (1,200 MW). According to statistics by the British Petroleum (BP), Vietnam is listed among the 52 countries that have oil and gas potential in the world with proven crude oil reserves of the country in 2015 were approximately 4.4 billion barrels and ranked first place in Southeast Asia, while the proven gas reserves were about 0.6 trillion cubic metres (tcm) and ranked the third place in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and Malaysia.

Vietnam has 2,360 rivers with average annual discharge of 310 billion m³ by which raining season accounts for 70% of the whole year discharge. Most urban water supply systems in the country have been developed without proper management since the past 10 years. Based on a 2008 survey by Vietnam Water Supply and Sewerage Association (VWSA), the existing water production capacity even exceeded the demand but the service coverage is still very low since most of clean water supply infrastructures are not much developed where it only been delivered to a small proportion of the population with about one third of 727 district towns having some form of piped water supply. There is also concern on the safety of existing water resources for urban and rural water supply systems since domestic and industrial factories releasing their wastewater directly into the water sources without treatment where the government does not take more urgent measures to address the problem with the majority of domestic wastewater is discharged back to the environment and polluting the surface water.

In recent years, there have been some efforts and collaboration between local and foreign universities to developing access to safe water in the country by introducing water filtration system with the growing concern from local population about the serious public health issues associated with water contamination caused by pollution as well the high levels of arsenic in their groundwater sources. The government of Netherlands also have been providing aid by focusing its entirety investments in the country mainly on water-related sectors including in water treatment projects. Regarding sanitation, 78% of the population in Vietnam had access to "improved" sanitation or 94% of the urban population and 70% of the rural population despite there are still about 21 million people in the country lacked accessed to "improved" sanitation according to a survey conducted in 2015. In 2018, the construction ministry said that the country water supply and drainage industry had been applying hi-tech methods and information technology (IT) but facing problems such as limited funding, climate change and pollution. The health ministry also have announced that water inspection units will be established in the country nationwide from June 2019 with inspections to be conducted without notice since there have been many cases involving health caused by poor and polluted water supply as well hygiene conditions are reported every year.

By 2015, 97% of the population had access to improved water sources. 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. Despite these improvements, malnutrition is still common in the rural provinces. Since the partition, North Vietnam has established a public health system that reached down to the hamlet level. After the national reunification in 1975, a nationwide health service was established. 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. 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. The controversial use of herbicides as a chemical weapon by the US military during the war has left tangible, long-term impacts upon the Vietnamese people that still persists in the country until present. For instance, it led to 3 million Vietnamese people suffering health problems, one million birth defects caused directly by exposure to the chemical and 24% of the area of Vietnam being defoliated.

Since the early 2000s, Vietnam has made significant progress in combating malaria, with the malaria mortality rate falling to about 5% of its 1990s equivalent by 2005, after the country introduced improved antimalarial drugs and treatment. Tuberculosis (TB) cases however are on the rise which become the second most infectious diseases in the country after respiratory-related illness. With an intensified vaccination program, better hygiene and foreign assistance, Vietnam hopes to reduce sharply the number of TB cases and annual new TB infections. In 2004, government subsidies covering about 15% of health care expenses. Along the same year, the United States announced that Vietnam would be one of 15 nations to receive funding as part of its global AIDS relief plan. 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) with 9,554 have died. The actual number of HIV-positive individuals is estimated to be much higher as on average as between 40–50 new infections are reported daily in the country. In 2007, 0.4% of the population is estimated to be infected with HIV and the figure has remained stable since 2005. More global aid are being delivered through The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to fight the spread of the diseases in the country. 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 other diseases like rabies and leptospirosis as more than 1,000 stores in the capital city of Hanoi are found to be selling both meats. The decision received positive comments among Vietnamese society on social media despite many still disagreed as it has been a habit that couldn't be resisted.

Vietnam has an extensive state-controlled network of schools, colleges and universities and a growing number of privately run and partially privatised institutions. General education in Vietnam is divided into five categories: kindergarten, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities. A large number of public schools have been constructed across the country to raise the national literacy rate, which stood at 90% in 2008. Most universities are located in major cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with the country education system continuously undergoing a series of reform by the government. Basic education in the country is relatively free for the poor although some families may still have trouble paying tuition fee for their children without some form of public or private assistance. Regardless, school enrolment is among the highest in the world, and the number of colleges and universities increased dramatically in the 2000s from 178 in 2000 to 299 in 2005. In higher education, the government provide subsidised loans for students through national bank although there are deep concerns about its access as well the burdens among students in repaying.Since 1995, enrolment in higher education has grown tenfold to over 2.2 million with 84,000 lecturers and 419 institutions of higher education. A number of foreign universities operate private campuses in Vietnam, including Harvard University (USA) and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia). The government's strong commitment to education has fostered significant growth but still need to be sustained to retain academics. In 2018, a decree on university autonomy to operate independently without a ministry control above their heads are in its final stages of approval with the government will continue to investing in education especially for the poor to have access on basic education.

, the population of Vietnam standing at approximately /1e6 round 1 million people. The population had grown significantly from the 1979 census, which showed the total population of reunified Vietnam to be 52.7 million. In 2012, the country's population was estimated at approximately 90.3 million. Based on the 2009 census, 70.4% of the Vietnamese population are living in rural areas while only 29.6% living in urban areas although the average growth rate of the urban population have recently increasing which mainly attributed to migration and rapid urbanisation. The dominant Viet or Kinh ethnic group constituted nearly 73.6 million people or 85.8% of the population, with most of their population is concentrated mainly in the alluvial deltas and coastal plains of the country. As a majority ethnic group, the Kinh possess significant political and economic influence over the country. Despite this, Vietnam is also home to other 54 ethnic minority groups, including the Hmong, Dao, Tày, Thai and Nùng. Many ethnic minorities such as the Muong who are closely related to the Kinh dwell in the highlands which cover two-thirds of Vietnam's territory.

Other uplanders in the north migrated from southern China between 1300s and 1800s. Since the partition of Vietnam, the population of the Central Highlands was almost exclusively Degar (including over 40 tribal groups); however, the South Vietnamese government at the time enacted a program of resettling Kinh in indigenous areas. The Hoa (ethnic Chinese) and Khmer Krom people are mainly lowlanders. Throughout Vietnam history, many Chinese people mainly from South China migrated to the country as administrators, merchants and even refugees. Since the reunification in 1976 with the increase of communist policies nationwide that resulting the nationalisation of property and subsequently causing many rich people property in the city especially among the Hoa in the south are being confiscated by the government, this has led many of them to leave Vietnam. Furthermore, with the deteriorating Sino-Vietnamese relations as a result of border invasion by Chinese government in 1979 which added by doubtful among Vietnamese society on the Chinese government intention had indirectly causing more Hoa people in the north to leave the country.

The number of people live in urbanised area in 2017 is estimated to be around 32.753 million of people (with urbanisation rate at 35.7%). Since 1986, Vietnam's urbanisation rates have surged rapidly after the Vietnamese government implemented the Đổi Mới economic program, changing the system into socialist and liberalising property rights. As a result, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (the two major cities in the Red River Delta and Southeast regions respectively) increased their share of the total urban population from 8.5% and 24.9% to 15.9% and 31% respectively. The Vietnamese government through its construction ministry forecasts that the country will have a 45% urbanisation rates by 2020 with urbanisation is said to have a positive correlation with economic growth as any country with higher urbanisation rates would have a higher growth rate of GDP. Furthermore, the urbanisation movements in Vietnam is mainly between the rural areas and the country Southeast region. Ho Chi Minh City has received a large population of in-migrants mainly due to better weather and economic opportunities.
A study also shows that rural-to-urban area migrants have a higher standards of living than both non-migrants in rural areas and non-migrants in urban areas which also leads to changing in economic structures. In 1985, agriculture took up 37.2% of Vietnam’s GDP; nevertheless, in 2008, that number went down to 18.5%, a decreasing of 18.7%. In 1985, industry took only a small fraction of Vietnam GDP, around 26.2%. But in 2008, that number has increased up to 43.2%. Urbanisation also helps to improve basic services which increase people’s standards of living. Access to electricity has increased tremendously from 14% of total households having electricity in 1993 to above 96% in 2009. In terms of accessing to fresh water, data from 65 utility companies show that only 12% of households in the area covered by the companies had access to the water network in 2002. By 2007, more than 70% of the population in the area was connected. Though urbanisation has many benefits, it has some drawbacks since it creates more traffic, air and water pollution.

Since Vietnam has a big consumption of mopeds in their transportation due to the relatively cheap and easy to commute, large numbers of mopeds have been known for causing traffic and air pollution in Vietnam. In the capital city alone, the consumption of mopeds has increased from 0.5 million in 2001 to 4.7 million in 2013. With the rapid development, factories have sprung up rapidly which indirectly polluting air and water as been exampled from the 2016 Vietnam marine life disaster caused by the Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Company which killing many fish and marine habitats in Vietnamese waters and directly causing major losses to the country economy. There are some government's interventions and solutions trying to decrease air pollution by decreasing the number of motorcycles while increasing public transportation and having more regulations for factories to handle their wastes. Although the authorities also have a time schedules for collecting different types of waste, waste disposal have become another problem of urbanisation since the amount of solid waste generated in urban areas has increased unimaginably by more than 200% from 2003 to 2008. Industrial solid waste alone, took up 181% of that 200%. One of the government’s efforts is trying to promote campaigns to encourage the locals to sort household waste since waste sorting are still not been practised entirely by most Vietnamese society.

Under the Article 70 of the 1992 Constitution of Vietnam, every of the country citizens are given the rights for freedom of religion by the government; by which every person can follow any religion or become irreligious with all religions are considered as equal with a condition that any religious beliefs cannot be misused to undermine state law and policies with their place of worship are protected under Vietnamese state law. According to a survey in 2007, 81% of the Vietnamese people do not believe in a God. Based on a new government findings in 2009, the number of religious people have increased by 932,000 people. Through the latest official statistics presented by the Vietnamese government to United Nations special rapporteur in 2014, the overall number of followers of recognised religions is about 24 million from the total population of almost 90 million. Formally recognised religious communities include 11 million Buddhists, 6.2 million Catholics, 1.4 million Protestants, 4.4 million Caodaisms followers, 1.3 million Hoahaoism Buddhists as well as 75,000 Muslims, 7,000 Baha'ís and 1,500 Hindus.

Mahāyāna is the dominant branch of Buddhism among the Kinh majority who follows religion, while Theravāda are practised in almost entirely by the Khmer minority. About 7% of the population are Christians, totalling around six million Roman Catholics and one million Protestants. Catholicism have been introduced to Vietnam by nearby Portuguese missionaries ("Jesuits") from Portuguese Macau and Malacca towards Annam and from remnants of the persecuted Japanese Catholic between the 16th and 17th centuries before being massively propagated by French missionaries aided by Spanish missionaries ("Dominicans") from neighbouring Spanish East Indies towards Tonkin in the 19th and 20th centuries. A significant number of Vietnamese people are also adherents of Caodaism, an indigenous folk religion which has structured itself on the model of the Catholic Church together with another Buddhist section of Hoahaoism. Protestantism was only recently spread by American and Canadian missionaries throughout the modern civil war, where it was largely accepted among the highland Montagnards of South Vietnam. The largest Protestant churches are the Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) and the Evangelical Church of Vietnam North (ECVN) with around 770,000 of the country Protestants come from members of ethnic minorities. Although it is one of the country minority religion and has a shorter history than Catholicism, Protestantism are found to be the country's fastest-growing religion, expanding at a rate of 600% in recent decades. Several other minority faiths exist in Vietnam, these includes Bani, Sunni and non-denominational section of Islam which is primarily practised among the ethnic Cham minority, though there were also a few Kinh adherents of Islam along with other minority adherents of Baha'is as well Hindus among the Cham's.

The official national language of the country is Vietnamese ("Tiếng Việt"), a tonal Austroasiatic languages (Mon–Khmer) which is spoken by the majority of the population. In its early history, Vietnamese writing used Chinese characters before a different meaning set of Chinese characters known as "Chữ nôm" developed between the 7th–13th century. The folk epic ("The Tale of Kieu", originally known as ) by Nguyễn Du was written in "Chữ nôm". "Quốc ngữ" as the romanised Vietnamese alphabet used for spoken Vietnamese, was developed in the 17th century by the Jesuit Alexandre de Rhodes and several other Catholic missionaries by using the alphabets of Romance languages, particularly the Portuguese alphabet which later became widely used through Vietnamese institutions during the French colonial period. Vietnam's minority groups speak a variety of languages, including Tày, Mường, Cham, Khmer, Chinese, Nùng and Hmong. The Montagnard peoples of the Central Highlands also speak a number of distinct languages as their language is derived from both the Austroasiatic and Malayo-Polynesian language groups. In recent years, a number of sign languages have developed in the major cities.
The French language, a legacy of colonial rule, is spoken by many educated Vietnamese as a second language, especially among the older generation and those educated in the former South Vietnam, where it was a principal language in administration, education and commerce. Vietnam remains a full member of the International Organisation of the Francophonie (La Francophonie) and education has revived some interest in the language. Russian and to a much lesser extent German, Czech and Polish are known among some northern Vietnamese whose families had ties with the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. 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. The popularity of Japanese and Korean have also grown as the country's ties with other East Asian nations have strengthened.

Vietnam's culture has developed over the centuries from indigenous ancient Đông Sơn culture with wet rice cultivation as its economic base. Some elements of the national culture have Chinese origins, drawing on elements of Confucianism, Mahāyāna Buddhism and Taoism in its traditional political system and philosophy. Vietnamese society is structured around "làng" (ancestral villages); all Vietnamese mark a common ancestral anniversary on the tenth day of the third lunar month. The influence of Chinese culture such as the Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien and Hainanese cultures are more evidenced in the north with the national religion of Buddhism is strongly entwined with popular culture. Despite this, there is also a Chinatown in the south such as in Chợ Lớn where many of the Chinese have intermarried with Kinh and are presently indistinguishable among them. In the central and southern part, traces of Champa and Khmer culture are evidenced through the remains of ruins, artefacts as well within their population as the successor of the ancient Sa Huỳnh culture. In recent centuries, the influence of Western cultures have become popular among newer Vietnamese generations.
The traditional focuses of Vietnamese culture are based on humanity ("nhân nghĩa") and harmony ("hòa"); in which family and community values are highly regarded. Vietnam reveres a number of key cultural symbols, such as the Vietnamese dragon which is derived from crocodile and snake imagery; Vietnam's national father, Lạc Long Quân is depicted as a holy dragon. The "lạc" is a holy bird representing Vietnamese national mother of Âu Cơ is another prominent symbol, while turtle, buffalo and horse images are also revered. Many Vietnamese also believes in supernatural and spiritualism where illness could be brought on by a curse or sorcery or caused by non-observance of a religious ethic where it needs to be treated through traditional medical practitioners, amulets and other forms of spiritual protection where religious practices may be employed to treating the ill person. In the modern era, the cultural life of Vietnam has been deeply influenced by government-controlled media and cultural programs. For many decades, foreign cultural influences especially those of Western origin were shunned. But since the recent reformation, Vietnam has seen a greater exposure to neighbouring Southeast Asian, East Asian as well to Western culture and media.

The main Vietnamese formal dress, the "áo dài" is worn for special occasions such as in weddings and religious festivals. White "áo dài" is the required uniform for girls in many high schools across the country. Other examples of traditional Vietnamese clothing include the "áo tứ thân", a four-piece woman's dress; the "áo ngũ", a form of the "thân" in 5-piece form, mostly worn in the north of the country; the "yếm", a woman's undergarment; the "áo bà ba", rural working "pyjamas" for men and women; the "áo gấm", a formal brocade tunic for government receptions; and the "áo the", a variant of the "áo gấm" worn by grooms at weddings. Traditional headwear includes the standard conical "nón lá" and the "lampshade-like" "nón quai thao". In tourism, a number of popular cultural tourist destinations include the former imperial capital of Hué, the World Heritage Sites of Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, Hội An and Mỹ Sơn, coastal regions such as Nha Trang, the caves of Hạ Long Bay and the Marble Mountains.

Vietnamese literature has centuries-deep history and the country has a rich tradition of folk literature based on the typical 6–to-8-verse poetic form named "ca dao" which usually focuses on village ancestors and heroes. Written literature has been found dating back to the 10th century Ngô dynasty, with notable ancient authors including Nguyễn Trãi, Trần Hưng Đạo, Nguyễn Du and Nguyễn Đình Chiểu. Some literary genres play an important role in theatrical performance, such as "hát nói" in "ca trù". Some poetic unions have also been formed in Vietnam, such as the "tao đàn". Vietnamese literature has in recent times been influenced by Western styles, with the first literary transformation movement of "thơ mới" emerging in 1932. Vietnamese folk literature is an intermingling of many forms. It is not only an oral tradition, but a mixing of three media: hidden (only retained in the memory of folk authors), fixed (written), and shown (performed). Folk literature usually exist in many versions, passed down orally and have unknown authors. Myths consist of stories about supernatural beings, heroes, creator gods and reflect the viewpoint of ancient people about human life. They consist of creation stories, stories about their origins ("Lạc Long Quân" and "Âu Cơ"), culture heroes ("Sơn Tinh" and "Thủy Tinh") which is referred as a mountain and water spirit respectively and many other folklore tales.

Bolero music has gained its position in the country since 1930s, albeit with a different style from a combination between traditional Vietnamese music with Western elements. However, the modern Vietnamese music industry, known as V-pop, is currently making its mark in the entertainment field. Many Vietnamese artists have started to collaborate with foreign artists and producers, especially South Korean, to facilitate the entrance of K-pop into the Vietnamese market while also promoting V-pop overseas. For example, in 2014, the South Korean seven-member boy band BTS (방탄소년단) collaborated with Vietnamese singer Thanh Bùi on the single called "Danger". In 2018, South Korean artist and idol Park Ji-yeon (박지연) collaborated with in two versions of the title track called "Between Us" (; ) to promote the two countries’ partnership in terms of the music industry. V Live, which is a South Korean live video streaming service also collaborated with RBW Entertainment Vietnam (a subsidiary of the Korean entertainment company) to produce Vietnamese-based shows. V Live also launched special monthly mini-concerts called "V Heartbeat Live" to connect V-pop and K-pop idols. Furthermore, South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment signed an agreement with IPP Group to advance into the country’s market and promote joint business. The company held its 2018 Global Audition in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in search for new talents among the Vietnamese youth.
Traditional Vietnamese music varies between the country's northern and southern regions. Northern classical music is Vietnam's oldest musical form and is traditionally more formal. The origins of Vietnamese classical music can be traced since the Mongol invasions in the 13th century when the Vietnamese captured a Chinese opera troupe. Throughout its history, Vietnamese has been the most heavily impacted by the Chinese musical tradition as an integral part along with Japan, Korea and Mongolia. "Nhã nhạc" is the most popular form of imperial court music, "Chèo" is a form of generally satirical musical theatre while "Xẩm" or "hát xẩm" (xẩm singing) is a type of Vietnamese folk music. "Quan họ" (alternate singing) is popular in the former Hà Bắc Province (which is now divided into Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang Provinces) and across Vietnam. Another form of music called "Hát chầu văn" or "hát văn" is used to invoke spirits during ceremonies. "Nhạc dân tộc cải biên" is a modern form of Vietnamese folk music which arose in the 1950s while "ca trù" (also known as "hát ả đào") is a popular folk music. "Hò" can not be thought of as the southern style of "quan họ". There are a range of traditional instruments, including the "đàn bầu" (a monochord zither), the "đàn gáo" (a two-stringed fiddle with coconut body), and the "đàn nguyệt" (a two-stringed fretted moon lute. In recent times, there have been some efforts to mixing Vietnamese traditional music especially folk music with modern music to revive and promote national music in the modern context and educating the younger generations about Vietnam's traditional musical instruments and singing styles.

Vietnamese cuisine traditionally features a combination of five fundamental taste "elements" (Vietnamese: "ngũ vị"): spicy (metal), sour (wood), bitter (fire), salty (water) and sweet (earth). Common ingredients include fish sauce, shrimp paste, soy sauce, rice, fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables. Vietnamese recipes use lemongrass, ginger, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander, Saigon cinnamon, bird's eye chilli, lime and basil leaves. Traditional Vietnamese cooking is known for its fresh ingredients, minimal use of oil and reliance on herbs and vegetables where it is considered one of the healthiest cuisines worldwide. The use of such meats as pork, beef and chicken was relatively limited in the past, and as a result freshwater fish, crustaceans particularly crabs and molluscs became widely used. Fish sauce, soy sauce, prawn sauce and limes are among the main flavouring ingredients. There is an estimate of 40 Vietnamese dishes with many are usually served as a norm in the country street food culture. Many notable Vietnamese dishes such as "bánh cuốn" (ride noodle roll), "bún riêu" (rice vermicelli soup) and "phở" noodles are originated from the north and were carried to central and southern Vietnam by northern migrants. Local foods in the north are often less spicy than southern dishes as the colder northern climate limits the production and availability of spices. Black pepper is used in place of chillis to produce spicy flavours. Vietnamese drinks in the south also are usually served cold with ice cube especially during the annual hot seasons compared to the north where hot drinks are much more preferable in colder climate. Some examples of basic Vietnamese drinks include "cà phê đá" (Vietnamese iced coffee), "cà phê trứng" (egg coffee), "chanh muối" (salted pickled lime juice), "cơm rượu" (glutinous rice wine), "nước mía" (sugarcane juice) and "trà sen" (Vietnamese lotus tea).

Vietnam's media sector is regulated by the government in accordance with the 2004 Law on Publication. It is generally perceived that the country media sector is controlled by the government to follow the official communist party line, though some newspapers are relatively outspoken. The Voice of Vietnam (VOV) is the official state-run national radio broadcasting service, broadcasting internationally via shortwave using rented transmitters in other countries and providing broadcasts from its website while Vietnam Television (VTV) is the national television broadcasting company. Since 1997, Vietnam has extensively regulated public internet access using both legal and technical means. The resulting lockdown is widely referred to as the "Bamboo Firewall". The collaborative project OpenNet Initiative classifies Vietnam's level of online political censorship to be "pervasive", while Reporters Without Borders (RWB) considers Vietnam to be one of 15 global "internet enemies". Though the government of Vietnam maintains that such censorship is necessary to safeguard the country against obscene or sexual explicit content, many political and religious sensitive websites that was deemed to be undermining state authority are also being blocked.

The country has eleven national recognised holidays which includes the New Year's Day on 1 January, Vietnamese New Year (Tết) from last day of the last lunar month to fifth day of the first lunar month, Hung Kings Commemorations on 10th day of the third lunar month, Day of liberating the South for national reunification on 30 April, International Workers' Day on 1 May and National Day Celebration on 2 September. During Tết, many Vietnamese from the major cities will return to their villages to gathering for family reunions and praying for dead ancestors. Older people will usually give the young a "lì xì" (red envelope) while special holiday food of "bánh chưng" (rice cake) in a square shape together with variety of dried fruits as the festival sweets are presented in the house for visitors. Many other festivals are celebrated throughout the seasons in a year including the Lantern Festival ("Tết Nguyên Tiêu"), Mid-Autumn Festival ("Tết Trung Thu") and various temple and nature festivals. In the highlands, Elephant Race Festival are held annually during the spring where riders will ride their elephants for about 1.6 kilometres with the winning elephant will be given sugarcane. Traditional Vietnamese weddings remain widely popular and are often celebrated by expatriate Vietnamese in Western countries. In Vietnam, the dressing have been influenced by Western styles with the wearing of white wedding dresses and black tuxedos although there were also many who still preferring to choose Vietnamese traditional wedding costumes for traditional ceremonies.

The Vovinam, "kim ke" and "bình định" martial arts are widespread in Vietnam, while football is the country's most popular sport. Its national team won the ASEAN Football Championship twice in 2008 and 2018, its junior team of under-23 became the runners-up of 2018 AFC U-23 Championship and reach fourth place in 2018 Asian Games while the under-20 managed to qualify the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup for the first time in their football history. Its women team also dominating the Southeast Asian Games with main rival of Thailand. Other Western sports such as badminton, tennis, volleyball, ping-pong and chess are also widely popular. Vietnam has participated in the Summer Olympic Games since 1952 when it competed as the State of Vietnam. After the partition of the country in 1954, only South Vietnam competed in the games, sending athletes to the 1956 and 1972 Olympics. Since the reunification of Vietnam in 1976, it has competed as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, attending every Summer Olympics from 1988 onwards. The present Vietnam Olympic Committee was formed in 1976 and recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1979. Vietnam has never participated in the Winter Olympic Games. In 2016, Vietnam participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics where they won their first gold medal. In 2020, Vietnam will host the inaugural Formula One Vietnam Grand Prix in the city of Hanoi.Government

Media and censorship

Tourism

As the capital of Vietnam for almost a thousand years, Hanoi is considered one of the main cultural centres of Vietnam, where most Vietnamese dynasties have left their imprint. Even though some relics have not survived through wars and time, the city still has many interesting cultural and historic monuments for visitors and residents alike. Even when the nation's capital moved to Huế under the Nguyễn Dynasty in 1802, the city of Hanoi continued to flourish, especially after the French took control in 1888 and modeled the city's architecture to their tastes, lending an important aesthetic to the city's rich stylistic heritage. The city hosts more cultural sites than any other city in Vietnam, and boasts more than 1,000 years of history; that of the past few hundred years has been well preserved.

Hanoi

Hanoi (, ; ) is Vietnam's capital and second largest city by population (7.7 million in 2015). The city mostly lies on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is north of Ho Chi Minh City and west of Haiphong.

From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam. It was eclipsed by Huế, the imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguyễn Dynasty (1802–1945). In 1873 Hanoi was conquered by the French. From 1883 to 1945, the city was the administrative center of the colony of French Indochina. The French built a modern administrative city south of Old Hanoi, creating broad, perpendicular tree-lined avenues of opera, churches, public buildings, and luxury villas, but they also destroyed large parts of the city, shedding or reducing the size of lakes and canals, while also clearing out various imperial palaces and citadels.

From 1940 to 1945 Hanoi, as well as most of French Indochina and Southeast Asia, was occupied by the Japanese empire. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). The Vietnamese National Assembly under Ho Chi Minh decided on January 6, 1946, to make Hanoi the capital of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam, and it became the capital of a reunified Vietnam in 1976, after the North's victory in the Vietnam War.

October 2010 officially marked 1,000 years since the establishment of the city. The Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural is a ceramic mosaic mural created to mark the occasion.

Hanoi had many official and unofficial names throughout history.

Hanoi has been inhabited since at least 3000 BC. The Cổ Loa Citadel in Dong Anh district served as the capital of the Âu Lạc kingdom founded by the Thục emigrant Thục Phán after his 258 BC conquest of the native Văn Lang.

In 197 BC, Âu Lạc Kingdom was annexed by Nanyue, which ushered in more than a millennium of Chinese domination. By the middle of the 5th century, in the center of ancient Hanoi, the Liu Song Dynasty set up a new district (縣) called Songping (Tong Binh), which later became a commandery (郡), including two districts Yihuai (義懷) and Suining (綏寧) in the south of the Red River (now Từ Liêm and Hoài Đức districts) with a metropolis (the domination centre) in the present inner Hanoi. By the year 679, the Tang dynasty changed the region's name into Annan (Pacified South), with Songping as its capital.

In order to defeat the people's uprisings, in the later half of the 8th century, Zhang Boyi (張伯儀), a Tang dynasty viceroy, built Luocheng (羅城, La Thanh or La citadel, from Thu Le to Quan Ngua in present-day Ba Dinh precinct). In the earlier half of the 9th century, it was further built up and called Jincheng (金城, Kim Thanh or Kim Citadel). In 866, Gao Pian, the Chinese Jiedushi, consolidated and named it Daluocheng (大羅城, Dai La citadel, running from Quan Ngua to Bach Thao), the largest citadel of ancient Hanoi at the time.

In 1010, Lý Thái Tổ, the first ruler of the Lý Dynasty, moved the capital of Đại Việt to the site of the Đại La Citadel. Claiming to have seen a dragon ascending the Red River, he renamed the site Thăng Long (, "Soaring Dragon") – a name still used poetically to this day. Thăng Long remained the capital of Đại Việt until 1397, when it was moved to Thanh Hóa, then known as Tây Đô (), the "Western Capital". Thăng Long then became Đông Đô (), the "Eastern Capital."

In 1408, the Chinese Ming Dynasty attacked and occupied Vietnam, changing Đông Đô's name to Dongguan (, "Eastern Gateway"), or "Đông Quan" in Sino-Vietnamese. In 1428, the Vietnamese overthrew the Chinese under the leadership of Lê Lợi, who later founded the Lê Dynasty and renamed Đông Quan Đông Kinh (, "Eastern Capital") or Tonkin. Right after the end of the Tây Sơn Dynasty, it was named Bắc Thành (, "Northern Citadel").

In 1802, when the Nguyễn Dynasty was established and moved the capital to Huế, the old name Thăng Long was modified to become Thăng Long (, "Soaring Dragon"). In 1831, the Nguyễn emperor Minh Mạng renamed it Hà Nội (, "Between Rivers" or "River Interior"). Hanoi was occupied by the French in 1873 and passed to them ten years later. As Hanoï, it was located in the protectorate of Tonkin became the capital of French Indochina after 1887.

The city was occupied by the Imperial Japanese in 1940 and liberated in 1945, when it briefly became the seat of the Viet Minh government after Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence of Vietnam. However, the French returned and reoccupied the city in 1946. After nine years of fighting between the French and Viet Minh forces, Hanoi became the capital of an independent North Vietnam in 1954.

During the Vietnam War, Hanoi's transportation facilities were disrupted by the bombing of bridges and railways. These were all, however, promptly repaired. Following the end of the war, Hanoi became the capital of a reunified Vietnam when North and South Vietnam were reunited on 2 July 1976.

After the Đổi Mới economic policies were approved in 1986, the Communist Party and national and municipal governments hoped to attract international investments for urban development projects in Hanoi. The high-rise commercial buildings did not begin to appear until ten years later due to the international investment community being skeptical of the security of their investments in Vietnam. Rapid urban development and rising costs displaced many residential areas in central Hanoi. Following a short period of economic stagnation after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Hanoi resumed its rapid economic growth.

On 29 May 2008, it was decided that Hà Tây Province, Vĩnh Phúc Province's Mê Linh District and 4 communes of Lương Sơn District, Hòa Bình Province be merged into the metropolitan area of Hanoi from 1 August 2008. Hanoi's total area then increased to 334,470 hectares in 29 subdivisions with the new population being 6,232,940., effectively tripling its size. The Hanoi Capital Region (), a metropolitan area covering Hanoi and 6 surrounding provinces under its administration, will have an area of with 15 million people by 2020.

Hanoi has experienced a rapid construction boom recently. Skyscrapers, popping up in new urban areas, have dramatically changed the cityscape and have formed a modern skyline outside the old city. In 2015, Hanoi is ranked # 39 by Emporis in the list of world cities with most skyscrapers over 100 m; its two tallest buildings are Hanoi Landmark 72 Tower (336 m, tallest in Vietnam and second tallest in south-east Asia after Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers) and Hanoi Lotte Center (272 m, also, second tallest in Vietnam).

Public outcry in opposition to the redevelopment of culturally significant areas in Hanoi persuaded the national government to implement a low-rise policy surrounding Hoàn Kiếm Lake. The Ba Đình District is also protected from commercial redevelopment.

Hanoi is located in northern region of Vietnam, situated in the Vietnam's Red River delta, nearly away from the coastal area. Hanoi contains three basic kinds of terrain, which are the delta area, the midland area and mountainous zone. In general, the terrain is gradually lower from the north to the south and from the west to the east, with the average height ranging from 5 to 20 meters above the sea level. The hills and mountainous zones are located in the northern and western part of the city. The highest peak is at Ba Vi with 1281 m, located west of the city proper.

Hanoi features a warm humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cwa") with plentiful precipitation. The city experiences the typical climate of northern Vietnam, with four distinct seasons. Summer, from May until August, is characterized by hot and humid weather with abundant rainfall. September and October comprise the fall season, characterized by a decrease in temperature and precipitation. Winter, from November to January, is dry and cool by national standards. The city is usually cloudy and foggy in winter, averaging only 1.5 hours of sunshine per day in February and March.

Hanoi averages of rainfall per year, the majority falling from May to September. There are an average of 114 days with rain.

The average annual temperature is, with a mean relative humidity of 79%. The highest recorded temperature was in May 1926, while the lowest recorded temperature was in January 1955.

Hà Nội is divided into 12 urban districts, 1 district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. When Hà Tây was merged into Hanoi in 2008, Hà Đông was transformed into an urban district while Sơn Tây degraded to a district-leveled town. They are further subdivided into 22 commune-level towns (or townlets), 399 communes, and 145 wards.
 – formerly an administrative subdivision unit of the defunct Hà Tây Province

Hanoi's population is constantly growing (about 3.5% per year), a reflection of the fact that the city is both a major metropolitan area of Northern Vietnam, and also the country's political centre. This population growth also puts a lot of pressure on the infrastructure, some of which is antiquated and dates back to the early 20th century.

The number of Hanoians who have settled down for more than three generations is likely to be very small when compared to the overall population of the city. Even in the Old Quarter, where commerce started hundreds of years ago and consisted mostly of family businesses, many of the street-front stores nowadays are owned by merchants and retailers from other provinces. The original owner family may have either rented out the store and moved into the adjoining house or moved out of the neighbourhood altogether. The pace of change has especially escalated after the abandonment of central-planning economic policies and relaxing of the district-based household registrar system.

Hanoi's telephone numbers have been increased to 8 digits to cope with demand (October 2008). Subscribers' telephone numbers have been changed in a haphazard way; however, mobile phones and SIM cards are readily available in Vietnam, with pre-paid mobile phone credit available in all areas of Hanoi.

Hanoi has the highest Human Development Index among the cities in Vietnam. According to a recent ranking by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hanoi will be the fastest growing city in the world in terms of GDP growth from 2008 to 2025. In the year 2013, Hanoi contributed 12.6% to GDP, exported 7.5% of total exports, contributed 17% to the national budget and attracted 22% investment capital of Vietnam. The city's nominal GDP at current prices reached 451,213 billion VND (21.48 billion USD) in 2013, which made per capita GDP stand at 63.3 million VND (3,000 USD).
Industrial production in the city has experienced a rapid boom since the 1990s, with average annual growth of 19.1 percent from 1991–95, 15.9 percent from 1996–2000, and 20.9 percent during 2001–2003. In addition to eight existing industrial parks, Hanoi is building five new large-scale industrial parks and 16 small- and medium-sized industrial clusters. The non-state economic sector is expanding fast, with more than 48,000 businesses currently operating under the Enterprise Law (as of 3/2007).

Trade is another strong sector of the city. In 2003, Hanoi had 2,000 businesses engaged in foreign trade, having established ties with 161 countries and territories. The city's export value grew by an average 11.6 percent each year from 1996–2000 and 9.1 percent during 2001–2003. The economic structure also underwent important shifts, with tourism, finance, and banking now playing an increasingly important role. Hanoi's traditional business districts are Hoàn Kiếm, Hai Bà Trưng and Đống Đa; and newly developing Cầu Giấy and Nam Từ Liêm in the west.

Similar to Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi enjoys a rapidly developing real estate market. The current most notable new urban areas are central Trung Hòa Nhân Chính, Mỹ Đình, the luxurious zones of The Manor, Ciputra, Royal City in the Nguyễn Trãi Street (Thanh Xuân District) and Times City in the Hai Bà Trưng District.

Agriculture, previously a pillar in Hanoi's economy, has striven to reform itself, introducing new high-yield plant varieties and livestock, and applying modern farming techniques.

After the economic reforms that initiated economic growth, Hanoi's appearance has also changed significantly, especially in recent years. Infrastructure is constantly being upgraded, with new roads and an improved public transportation system. Hanoi has allowed many fast-food chains into the city, such as Jollibee, Lotteria, Pizza Hut, KFC, and others. Locals in Hanoi perceive the ability to purchase "fast-food" as an indication of luxury and permanent fixtures.

Over three-quarters of the jobs in Hanoi are state-owned. 9% of jobs are provided by collectively owned organizations. 13.3% of jobs are in the private sector. The structure of employment has been changing rapidly as state-owned institutions downsize and private enterprises grow. Hanoi has in-migration controls which allow the city to accept only people who add skills Hanoi's economy. A 2006 census found that 5,600 rural produce vendors exist in Hanoi, with 90% of them coming from surrounding rural areas. These numbers indicate the much greater earning potential in urban rather than in rural spaces. The uneducated, rural, and mostly female street vendors are depicted as participants of "microbusiness" and local grassroots economic development by business reports. In July 2008, Hanoi's city government devised a policy to partially ban street vendors and side-walk based commerce on 62 streets due to concerns about public health and "modernizing" the city's image to attract foreigners. Many foreigners believe that the vendors add a traditional and nostalgic aura to the city, although street vending was much less common prior to the 1986 Đổi Mới policies. The vendors have not able to form effective resistance tactics to the ban and remain embedded in the dominant capitalist framework of modern Hanoi.

A development master plan for Hanoi was designed by Ernest Hebrard in 1924, but was only partially implemented. The close relationship between the Soviet Union and Vietnam led to the creation of the first comprehensive plan for Hanoi with the assistance of Soviet planners between 1981 and 1984. It was never realized because it appeared to be incompatible with Hanoi's existing layout.

In recent years, two master plans have been created to guide Hanoi's development. The first was the Hanoi Master Plan 1990-2010, approved in April 1992. It was created out of collaboration between planners from Hanoi and the National Institute of Urban and Rural Planning in the Ministry of Construction. The plan's three main objectives were to create housing and a new commercial center in an area known as Nghĩa Đô, expand residential and industrial areas in the Gia Lâm District, and develop the three southern corridors linking Hanoi to Hà Đông and the Thanh Trì District. The end result of the land-use pattern was meant to resemble a five cornered star by 2010. In 1998, a revised version of the Hanoi Master plan was approved to be completed in 2020. It addressed the significant increase of population projections within Hanoi. Population densities and high rise buildings in the inner city were planned to be limited to protect the old parts of inner Hanoi. A rail transport system is planned to be built to expand public transport and link the Hanoi to surrounding areas. Projects such as airport upgrading, a golf course, and cultural villages have been approved for development by the government.

Hanoi is still faced with the problems associated with increasing urbanization. The disparity of wealth between the rich and the poor is a problem in both the capital and throughout the country. Hanoi's public infrastructure is in poor condition. The city has frequent power cuts, air and water pollution, poor road conditions, traffic congestion, and a rudimentary public transit system. Traffic congestion and air pollution are worsening as the number of motor cycles increases. Squatter settlements are expanding on the outer rim of the city as homelessness rises.

In the late 1980s, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Vietnamese government designed a project to develop rural infrastructure. The project focused on improving roads, water supply and sanitation, and educational, health and social facilities because economic development in the communes and rural areas surrounding Hanoi is dependent on the infrastructural links between the rural and urban areas, especially for the sale of rural products. The project aimed to use locally available resources and knowledge such as compressed earth construction techniques for building. It was jointly funded by the UNDP, the Vietnamese government, and resources raised by the local communities and governments. In four communes, the local communities contributed 37% of the total budget. Local labor, community support, and joint funding were decided as necessary for the long-term sustainability of the project.

Part of the goals of the dổi mới economic reforms was to decentralize governance for purpose of economic improvement. This led to the establishment of the first issue-oriented civic organizations in Hanoi. In the 1990s, Hanoi experienced significant poverty alleviation as a result of both the market reforms and civil society movements. Most of the civic organizations in Hanoi were established after 1995, at a rate much slower than in Ho Chi Minh City. Organizations in Hanoi are more "tradition-bound," focused on policy, education, research, professional interests, and appealing to governmental organizations to solve social problems. This marked difference from Ho Chi Minh's civic organizations, which practice more direct intervention to tackle social issues, may be attributed to the different societal identities of North and South Vietnam. Hanoi-based civic organizations use more systematic development and less of a direct intervention approach to deal with issues of rural development, poverty alleviation, and environmental protection. They rely more heavily on full-time staff than volunteers. In Hanoi, 16.7% of civic organizations accept anyone as a registered member and 73.9% claim to have their own budgets, as opposed to 90.9% in Ho Chi Minh City. A majority of the civic organizations in Hanoi find it difficult to work with governmental organizations. Many of the strained relations between non-governmental and governmental organizations results from statism, a bias against non-state organizations on the part of government entities.

The Old Quarter, near Hoàn Kiếm Lake, maintains most of the original street layout and some of the architecture of old Hanoi. At the beginning of the 20th century Hanoi consisted of the "36 streets", the citadel, and some of the newer French buildings south of Hoàn Kiếm lake, most of which are now part of Hoàn Kiếm district. Each street had merchants and households specializing in a particular trade, such as silk, jewelry or even bamboo. The street names still reflect these specializations, although few of them remain exclusively in their original commerce. The area is famous for its specializations in trades such as traditional medicine and local handicrafts, including silk shops, bamboo carpenters, and tin smiths. Local cuisine specialties as well as several clubs and bars can be found here also. A night market (near Đồng Xuân Market) in the heart of the district opens for business every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening with a variety of clothing, souvenirs and food.

Some other prominent places include the Temple of Literature ("Văn Miếu"), site of the oldest university in Vietnam which was started in 1010, the One Pillar Pagoda ("Chùa Một Cột") which was built based on the dream of king Lý Thái Tông (1028-1054) in 1049, and the Flag Tower of Hanoi ("Cột cờ Hà Nội"). In 2004, a massive part of the 900-year-old Hanoi Citadel was discovered in central Hanoi, near the site of Ba Đình Square.

A city between rivers built on lowlands, Hanoi has many scenic lakes and is sometimes called the "city of lakes." Among its lakes, the most famous are Hoàn Kiếm Lake, West Lake/Hồ Tây, and Bảy Mẫu Lake (inside Thống Nhất Park). Hoàn Kiếm Lake, also known as Sword Lake, is the historical and cultural center of Hanoi, and is linked to the legend of the magic sword. West Lake (Hồ Tây) is a popular place for people to spend time. It is the largest lake in Hanoi, with many temples in the area. The lakeside road in the Nghi Tam – Quang Ba area is perfect for bicycling, jogging and viewing the cityscape or enjoying the lotus ponds in the summer. The best way to see the majestic beauty of a West Lake sunset is to view it from one of the many bars around the lake, especially from The Summit at Pan Pacific Hanoi (formally known as Summit Lounge at Sofitel Plaza Hanoi).

Under French rule, as an administrative centre for the French colony of Indochina, the French colonial architecture style became dominant, and many examples remain today: the tree-lined boulevards (e.g. Phan Dinh Phung street) and its many villas, mansions, and government buildings. Many of the colonial structures are an eclectic mixture of French and traditional Vietnamese architectural styles, such as the National Museum of Vietnamese History, the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts and the old Indochina Medical College. Gouveneur-Général Paul Doumer (1898-1902) played a crucial role in colonial Hanoi's urban planning. Under his tenure there was a major construction boom.

Notable French Colonial landmarks in Hanoi include:

Hanoi is home to a number of museums:

Hanoi is sometimes dubbed the "Paris of the East" for its French influences. With its tree-fringed boulevards, more than two dozen lakes and thousands of French colonial-era buildings, Hanoi is a popular tourist destination.

The tourist destinations in Hanoi are generally grouped into two main areas: the Old Quarter and the French Quarter(s). The "Old Quarter" is in the northern half of Hoàn Kiếm District with small street blocks and alleys, and a traditional Vietnamese atmosphere. Many streets in the Old Quarter have names signifying the goods ("hàng") the local merchants were or are specialized in. For example, "Hàng Bạc" ("silver stores") still have many stores specializing in trading silver and jewelries.

Two areas are generally called the "French Quarters": the governmental area in Ba Đình District and the south of Hoàn Kiếm District. Both areas have distinctive French Colonial style villas and broad tree-lined avenues. The political center of Vietnam, Ba Đình has a high concentration of Vietnamese government headquarters, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly and several ministries and embassies, most of which used administrative buildings of colonial French Indochina. The One Pillar Pagoda, the Lycée du Protectorat and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum are also in Ba Dinh. South of Hoàn Kiếm's "French Quarter" has several French-Colonial landmarks, including the Hanoi Opera House, the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel, the National Museum of Vietnamese History (formerly the École française d'Extrême-Orient), and the St. Joseph's Cathedral. Most of the French-Colonial buildings in Hoan Kiem are now used as foreign embassies.

Since 2014, Hanoi has consistently been voted in the world's top ten destinations by TripAdvisor. It ranked 8th in 2014, 4th in 2015 and 8th in 2016.
Hanoi is the most affordable international destination in TripAdvisor's annual TripIndex report. In 2017, Hanoi will welcome more than 5 million international tourists.

A variety of options for entertainment in Hanoi can be found throughout the city. Modern and traditional theaters, cinemas, karaoke bars, dance clubs, bowling alleys, and an abundance of opportunities for shopping provide leisure activity for both locals and tourists. Hanoi has been named one of the top 10 cities for shopping in Asia by Water Puppet Tours. The number of art galleries exhibiting Vietnamese art has dramatically increased in recent years, now including galleries such as "Nhat Huy" of Huynh Thong Nhat.

Nhà Triển Lãm at 29 Hang Bai street hosts regular photo, sculpture, and paint exhibitions in conjuncture with local artists and travelling international expositions.

A popular traditional form of entertainment is Water puppetry, which is shown, for example, at the "Thăng Long Water Puppet Theatre."

To adapt to Hanoi's rapid economic growth and high population density, many modern shopping centers and megamalls have been opened in Hanoi.

Major malls are:

Hanoi has rich culinary traditions. Many of Vietnam's most famous dishes, such as phở, chả cá, bánh cuốn and cốm are believed to have originated in Hanoi. Perhaps most widely known is Phở—a simple rice noodle soup often eaten as breakfast at home or at street-side cafes, but also served in restaurants as a meal. Two varieties dominate the Hanoi scene: Phở Bò, containing beef and Phở Gà, containing chicken. Bún chả, a dish consisting of charcoal roasted pork served in a sweet/salty soup with rice noodle vermicelli and lettuce, is by far the most popular food item among locals. President Obama famously tried this dish at a Le Van Huu eatery with Anthony Bourdain in 2016, prompting the opening of a Bún chả restaurant bearing his name in the Old Quarter.

Vietnam's national dish phở has been named as one of the Top 5 street foods in the world by globalpost.

Hanoi has a number of restaurants whose menus specifically offer dishes containing snake and various species of insects. Insect-inspired menus can be found at a number of restaurants in Khuong Thuong village, Hanoi. The signature dishes at these restaurant are those containing processed ant-eggs, often in the culinary styles of Thai people or Vietnam's Muong and Tay ethnic people. Dog eating used to be popular in Hanoi in 1990s and early 2000s but is now dying out quickly due to strong objections.

Hanoi, as the capital of French Indochina, was home to the first Western-style universities in Indochina, including: "Indochina Medical College" (1902) – now Hanoi Medical University, "Indochina University" (1904) – now Hanoi National University (the largest), and "École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine" (1925) – now Hanoi University of Fine Art.

After the Communist Party of Vietnam took control of Hanoi in 1954, many new universities were built, among them, Hanoi University of Technology, still the largest technical university in Vietnam. Recently ULIS (University of Languages and International Studies) was rated as one of the top universities in south-east Asia for languages and language studies at the undergraduate level. Other universities that are not part of Vietnam National University or Hanoi University include Hanoi School for Public Health and Hanoi School of Agriculture and University of Transport and Communications.

Hanoi is the largest center of education in Vietnam. It is estimated that 62% of the scientists in the whole country are living and working in Hanoi. Admissions to undergraduate study are through entrance examinations, which are conducted annually and open to everyone (who has successfully completed his/her secondary education) in the country. The majority of universities in Hanoi are public, although in recent years a number of private universities have begun operation. Thăng Long University, founded in 1988, by Vietnamese mathematics professors in Hanoi and France was the first private university in Vietnam. Because many of Vietnam's major universities are located in Hanoi, students from other provinces (especially in the northern part of the country) wishing to enter university often travel to Hanoi for the annual entrance examination. Such events usually take place in June and July, during which a large number of students and their families converge on the city for several weeks around the intense examination period. In recent years, these entrance exams have been centrally coordinated by the Ministry of Education, but entrance requirements are decided independently by each university.

Although there are state owned kindergartens, there are also many private ventures that serve both local and international needs. Pre-tertiary (elementary and secondary) schools in Hanoi are generally state run, but there are also some independent schools. Education is equivalent to the K–12 system in the U.S., with elementary school between grades 1 and 5, middle school (or junior high) between grades 6 and 9, and high school from grades 10 to 12.

Education levels are much higher within the city of Hanoi in comparison to the suburban areas outside the city. About 33.8% of the labor force in the city has completed secondary school in contrast to 19.4% in the suburbs. 21% of the labor force in the city has completed tertiary education in contrast to 4.1% in the suburbs.

Country-wide educational change is difficult in Vietnam, due to the restrictive control of the government on social and economic development strategies. According to Hanoi government publications, the national system of education was reformed in 1950, 1956 and 1970. It was not until 1975 when the two separate education systems of the former North and South Vietnam territories became unified under a single national system. In Hanoi in December 1996, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam stated that: "To carry out industrialization and modernization successfully, it is necessary to develop education and training strongly [and to] maximize human resources, the key factor of fast and sustained development."

Hanoi is served by Noi Bai International Airport, located in the Soc Son District, approximately north of Hanoi. The new international terminal (T2), designed and built by Japanese contractors, opened in January 2015 and is a big facelift for Noibai International Airport. In addition, a new highway and the new Nhat Tan cable-stay bridge connecting the airport and the city center opened at the same time, offering much more convenience than the old road (via Thanglong bridge). Taxis are plentiful and usually have meters, although it is also common to agree on the trip price before taking a taxi from the airport to the city centre.
Hanoi is also the origin or departure point for many Vietnam Railways train routes in the country. The Reunification Express (tàu Thống Nhất) runs from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City from Hanoi station (formerly Hang Co station), with stops at cities and provinces along the line. Trains also depart Hanoi frequently for Hai Phong and other northern cities. The Reunification Express line was established during French colonial rule and was completed over a period of nearly forty years, from 1899 to 1936. The Reunification Express between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City covers a distance of and takes approximately 33 hours. As of 2005, there were 278 stations on the Vietnamese railway network, of which 191 were located along the North-South line.

The main means of transport within Hanoi city are motorbikes, buses, taxis, and a rising number of cars. In recent decades, motorbikes have overtaken bicycles as the main form of transportation. Cars however are probably the most notable change in the past five years as many Vietnamese people purchase the vehicles for the first time. The increased number of cars are the main cause gridlock as roads and infrastructure in the older parts of Hanoi were not designed to accommodate them. On 4 July 2017, the Hanoi government voted to ban motorbikes entirely by 2030, in order to reduce pollution, congestion, and encourage the expansion and use of public transport.

There are two metro lines under construction in Hanoi now, as part of the master plan for the future Hanoi Metro system. The first line is expected to be operational in 2018, and the second in 2021.

Persons on their own or traveling in a pair who wish to make a fast trip around Hanoi to avoid traffic jams or to travel at an irregular time or by way of an irregular route often use "xe ôm" (literally, "hug bike"). Motorbikes can also be rented from agents within the Old Quarter of Hanoi, although this falls inside a rather grey legal area.

There are several gymnasiums and stadiums throughout the city of Hanoi. The biggest ones are Mỹ Đình National Stadium (Lê Đức Thọ Boulevard), Quan Ngua Sporting Palace (Văn Cao Avenue), Hanoi Aquatics Sports Complex and Mỹ Đình Indoor Athletics Gymnasium. The others include Hà Nội Stadium (also known as Hàng Đẫy stadium). The third Asian Indoor Games were held in Hanoi in 2009. The others are Hai Bà Trưng Gymnasium, Trịnh Hoài Đức Gymnasium, Vạn Bảo Sports Complex.

On November 6, 2018, it was announced that in 2020, Hanoi would become the host of the first FIA Formula 1 Vietnam Grand Prix on a street circuit on the outskirts of the city.

Some medical facilities in Hanoi:

Hanoi is a member of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.

Hanoi is twinned with: