Vietnam's remarkable economic turnaround
Since the "Doi Moi" reforms in the mid 1980s, the Southeast Asian country has undergone a phenomenal transformation from one of the poorest countries in the world to a booming emerging economy.
The city that never stops
Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon), which has a population of 13 million, is the economic center of the country. Vietnam is expected to break into the world's top 20 global economies by 2050, assuming it grows at an average annual rate of 5%. The southeast Asian country is currently ranked 32nd, with its GDP currently expanding by just under 7%.
A boom hard to miss
The sea of motorbikes and scooters on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City is a testament to Vietnam's growing economic might. In Ho Chi Minh City alone there are said to be more than 7 million two-wheelers. That compares with 45 million across Vietnam, which has seen a sixfold rise in per capita income since the 1980s.
Small startup sector, big ambitions
Vietnam's burgeoning tech sector offers great and rewarding opportunities to the country's young minds. For example at the four-year-old startup NFQ Asia, a developer earns between $1,500 and $2,500 a month, about 15 times the average monthly salary in the country. "The Vietnamese are hungry for success and work very, very hard," says NFQ Asia founder Lars Jankowfsky.
Local transport in full gear
Vietnam is building its first metro rail lines in the capital Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to ease traffic congestion. In Ho Chi Minh City, the Line 1 metro is expected to connect the central hub of Ben Thanh Market with Suoi Tien, almost 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) away, by the end of next year. A Japanese tunnel-boring machine needed almost 80 days to dig the 781-meter-long first tube (pictured).
Major coffee exporter
A young Vietnamese man sits on bags of coffee beans in a coffee plantation near Da Lạt, the capital of Lam Dong province located in the mountains of South Vietnam. Vietnam is the second-largest coffee exporter in the world after Brazil.
'City of Eternal Spring'
Da Lạt is located at the Xuan Huong reservoir about 300 kilometers northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. It is surrounded by pine forests, lakes and waterfalls. The "City of Eternal Spring" enjoys a particulary temperate climate and is known for its Arabica coffee, vegetable farming and floriculture.
Flourishing shadow economy
Travel guides, street vendors, owners of corner shops, farmers — they are all part of Vietnam's informal sector. It is estimated that as many as three in four Vietnamese in the working population earn their money in the informal sector.