Location:

Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia

Geographic coordinates:

16 00 N, 106 00 E

Map references:

Southeast Asia

Area:

total: 329,560 sq km
land: 325,360 sq km
water: 4,200 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly larger than New Mexico

Land boundaries:

total: 4,639 km
border countries: Cambodia 1,228 km, China 1,281 km, Laos 2,130 km

Coastline:

3,444 km (excludes islands)

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

Climate:

tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (mid-May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-October to mid-March)

Terrain:

low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: Fan Si Pan 3,144 m

Natural resources:

phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests, hydropower

Land use:

arable land: 19.97%
permanent crops: 5.95%
other: 74.08% (2001)

Irrigated land:

30,000 sq km (1998 est.)

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

extending 1,650 km north to south, the country is only 50 km across at its narrowest point