The Viet Nam War dramatically shifted the demographics of Viet Nam. Today, two- thirds of Viet Nam’s 78 million people are under the age of 25. Below here are the main ethnic groups who live in Viet Nam.

          Constituting 85% of the population, the Vietnamese are descended from the Kinh people, who migrated into the Red River Delta about 2000 years ago. Most ethnic Vietnamese are Buddhist, but many also practice a mix of Taoism and Confucianism.

          Today about one million ethnic Chinese (Hoa) inhabit Vietnam, particularly the south. Nearly all of them have adopted Vietnamese citizenship while continuing to follow Chinese customs and traditions. The Vietnamese government has recognized the importance of the once- persecuted Chinese in national development: as merchants and trades people, the Chinese play a leading role in Vietnam’s economy.

          Viet Nam’s central and southern provinces are home to about 100,000 Chams. Following the complete and final destruction of their King in 1720 by the expanding Vietnamese, the Cham King and many of his people fled to Cambodia, where their descendants still live to this day. Those who remained in Viet Nam were dispossessed and pushed off their land, while their artistic traditions died out due to hardship and extreme poverty. Chams living in the central region still follow old Brahmanic traditions while those in the south have converted to Islam.

             Montagnard is common a common term used to describe the hill tribes inhabiting the mountains of North and Central Viet Nam. These ethnic minority groups vary in size, but altogether there are six to eight million Montagnards. Larger Montagnard tribes include Tay live in the northwest, Thai, who hail from the river valleys of the north, the Muong, who make their homes in the north central province of Thanh Hoa and Yen Bui, The Nung, who inhabit northwest Viet Nam near the border; The Hmong, who grace the highest altitudes near the Chinese border, the Gia Rai, the largest group in Central Viet Nam, and the Dao occupants of the northern frontier in Lao Cai and Ha Giang Provinces.