Hanoi means “city inside rivers” in Vietnamese reflecting its location between the Red River and Nhue River. One popular nickname for Hanoi is the “Paris of the East” paying homage to its picturesque French-style buildings and villas. Other nicknames for Vietnam’s capital city are the “City of Lakes” and “City for Peace”.
Research website numbeo ranks Hanoi in the bottom 14% compared to the 250 cities evaluated on its overall quality of life index at June 2020. Hanoi scored poorly on index factors such as pollution (worst 4%), purchasing power (lowest 10%), property price to income ratio (highest 12%) and health care (lowest 13%).
Hanoi is famous for the world’s largest mosaic mural. The Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural is about 2.5 miles long (4 kilometers) and appears on a wall for Hanoi’s dike system.
Property taxes in Hanoi are calculated based on a building’s width. This rule was established by French colonialists in the early 1900s and explains why there are so many tall but very narrow buildings known as “tube houses” especially in Hanoi’s Old Quarter.
From an international trade perspective, Vietnam exported an estimated US$318.3 billion worth of products around the globe in 2019. Its most valuable exports are mobile phones (12.4% of Vietnam’s global total), processors and controllers for electronic integrated circuits (7.4%), cellphone parts (6.6%), general boots and shoes (4.1%), parts for transmission and reception apparatus (2.9%), sports footwear (2.3%), small computers (1.1%) and miscellaneous wooden furniture (1%), according to the International Trade Centre.
Capital Facts for Hanoi, Vietnam: Quick Reference
Geography
Capital landmarks: Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Buddhist One Pillar Pagoda
Famous People
Below, you will find 10 of the most famous people born in Hanoi, Vietnam.
- Trần Thu Hà, singer & producer (born Aug. 26, 1977)
- Pham Nhat Vuong, billionaire & developer (born Aug. 5, 1968)
- Công Quốc Hà, artist & painter (born Oct. 29, 1952)
- Hoang Thuy Linh, actress & singer (born Aug. 11, 1988)
- Mỹ Linh, pop music singer (born Aug. 19, 1975)
- Hoang Thanh Trang, chess grandmaster (born Apr. 25, 1980)
- Ha Huy Hoang, cartoonist & animator (born Aug. 22, 1989)
- Trinh T. Minh-ha, filmmaker, composer & professor (born 1952)
- Trinh Xuan Thuan, astrophysicist (born Aug. 20, 1948)
- Đặng Thái Sơn, classical pianist (born Jul. 2, 1958)
Note: Data for our Famous People tab was sourced from Google searches mostly targeting published Wikipedia articles specific to each person’s name.
Population
Demonym for a Hanoi resident: Hanoian
Population: 4,678,198 (Hanoi) at July 23, 2020
Density: 37,917 people per square mile (14,639 per square kilometer)
Population: 97,389,613 (Vietnam) at July 23, 2020
Density: 813 people per square mile (314 per square kilometer)
Median age for all Vietnam: 32.5 years old
Financial
GDP: US$770.2 billion in 2019 (Vietnam)
GDP per person: $8,066
Note: The above GDP metrics are on a Purchasing Power Parity basis and are in U.S. dollars.
Official currency used in Hanoi: Vietnamese dong
Research
Research Sources:
Brookings Institution, Global Metro Monitor Report (includes GDP data).
Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook, East & Southeast Asia: Vietnam.
Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook, Field Listing: Major Urban Areas.
CityMetric, Where are largest cities in the world? 2015 edition.
Demographia, World Urban Area, 12th Annual Edition.
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases.
International Trade Centre, Trade Map.
Numbeo, Quality of Life Index by City.
Official Government Website, Hanoi Portal.
The World Factbook, Field Listing: Major Urban Areas – Population, Central Intelligence Agency.
Wikimedia Commons, City Flags.
Note: Some city flags were unavailable. If so, attribution belongs to Wikimedia Commons for pertinent country flags.
Wikipedia, Hanoi.
Wikipedia, Hanoi Capital Region.
Wikipedia, Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area.
Wikipedia, Vietnam.
Vietnam gained its independence from France on September 2, 1945. Citizens celebrate Independence Day as a public holiday each September 2.
Hanoi has a population of 4.7 million people living over an area measuring 123.38 square miles (319.56 square kilometers).
At the country level, Vietnam’s land area covers 119,719 square miles (310,070 square kilometers). The nation’s population count was 97.4 million inhabitants as of July 2020.
Population density is more concentrated in Vietnam’s capital city averaging 37,917 Hanoians per square mile (14,639 per square kilometer).
Zooming out to Vietnam’s overall land boundaries, population density dilutes to an average 813 residents per square mile (314 per square kilometer).
