In spite of a population made up of 90% of Vietnamese, Viet-Nam remains also the most complex microcosm of the world. It is a country with 54 ethnic groups. According to the most famous ethnologist G. Condominas, Viet-Nam offers the greatest richness and complexity from the ethnic point of view as well as linguistic one.

There cohabit five races (Melanesians, Indonsians, Negritos, Australoids and Mongoloids) speaking the languages belonging to five distinct families. Fifty mountain peopThe are found here (Rhade, Hmongs or Miao, Jorai, Raglai etc...). Their identity is affirmed not only through their costume but also through the distribution and the altitude of their habitat.


 
 

Costume of Nùng woman in
cotton dyed with indigo.

 Musée de l'Homme, Paris

     

Costume of Yao’s woman.

Collection de Musée de l'Homme, Paris

 

  
     
 
 
  1. The Ba Na ( Bahnar  )
  2.  The Bố Y
  3. The Brâu (Brau  )
  4. The Bru-Vân Kiều
  5. The   Chams
  6. The  Chu Ru
  7. The   Chơ Ro
  8. The  Chứt
  9. The  Co
  10. The Cống
  11. The Cơ Ho
  12. The  Cơ Lao
  13. The  CơTu
  14. The Ðào (ou Les Yao)
  15. The Ê Ðê (Eddé Radhé)
  16. The  Giáy
  17. The Gia Rai (Jorai)
  18. The Gié Triêng (Jeh)
  19. The Hà Nhi (Hani)
  20. The  Hmongs (ou les Mèo, les Miao)
  21. The Hoa (Les Hán, les Chinois)
  22. The  Hrê (Sré)
  23. The  Kháng
  24. The  Khmers
  25. The  Khờ Mú
  26. The  La Chí
  27. The  La Ha
  28. The  La Hủ (La Hu)
  29.  The  Lào
  30. The  Lô Lô
  31. The  Lự
  32. The  Mạ
  33. The  Mảng
  34. The  Mnông
  35. The  Mường
  36. The  Ngái
  37. The  Nùng
  38. The  Ơ Ðu
  39. The  Pà Thẻn
  40. The  Phù Lá (  Phu La  )
  41. The  Pu Péo
  42. The Ra Glai
  43. The  Rơ Măm
  44. The  Sán Chay
  45. The Sán Dìu (Man)
  46. The  Si La
  47. The  Tày
  48. The  Tà Ôi (Paco 
  49. The Thái
  50. The  Thổ
  51. The  Việt
  52. The Xinh Mun
  53. The Xơ Ðăng (Sédang )
  54. The  Xtiêng
 

In North Viet-Nam, the Thái occupy the first slopes of the mountain zones, then on a higher floor, live the Mảng between 300 and 800 meters, and starting from 900 meters one finds the Mèo tribes.

As for the ethnic groups of central Viêt-Nam, they always occupy the high plateaus.

One can say that the Kinh (lowland people ) and the ethnic minorities find a common cause for centuries.

The products of the plain and the sea are essential to the mountain dwellers as wood and the other forest products for the people of the plain. If the mountains constitute not only the strategic cover of the country but also a refuge in the event of war, the plains provide on the other hand most of the forces for defense. Thus were formed the motherland little by little, then the Vietnamese nation with the Kinh and the 53 ethnic groups.

     
 

The population of Vietnam is young. More than 39% of the population had less than fifteen years in 1989. Since 1975, the rate of annual population growth is around 2.2 per 100.

 

 

 
     
   
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