Vietnam is a multi-national country with 54 ethnic groups. The majority of the population are The Viet people (Kinh) accounting for 85% of the country’s population and primarily live in lowland areas such as the Red River delta, the central coastal delta, the Mekong delta and major cities. The other ethnic minority groups, are scattered over mountainous areas spreading from the North to the South.

One of the minority groups living in the lowlands with the Kinh people are the Chinese. They immigrated to the lowlands of Vietnam during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. However they still remained somewhat independent from the Kinh people.

In addition to the ethnic Chinese, there are other minorities that also live in the lowlands of Vietnam including the Khmer and the Cham, descendents of inhabitants who lived in central and southern Vietnam before the area was conquered by the Vietnamese. The Cham are descendants of the Champa kingdom that existed along the central coast for thousands of years. They are living as fishermen and farmers in scattered villages along the coast. The Khmer, of Cambodian decent, live and have lived for a long time in the Mekong Delta, south of Ho Chi Minh City.

The other ethnic groups of Vietnam live in the mountainous areas of the country. They are commonly called the Montagnards. In the northern mountains, along the Chinese border, is populated by the ethnic groups that have migrated there in the last several centuries. More common are the Tay, Nung, Mong, Dao, and Muong. The Tay are by far the most numerous of the northern people. To the south, in the central highlands, are the Raglai and the Gia Rai peoples. For centuries, the mountain people lived in isolation and were suspicious of lowlanders. They maintained only limited communication and trade with lowlanders. Now the Vietnam government is implementing programs to improve and develop communities, bring lowland Kinh people into the mountains, and educate the children of the Montagnards, while still allowing them to maintain their owned traditional cultural identities.

Throughout the history of Vietnam development, the Kinh people and the many minority groups have lived toghether and shared the same desire of gaining the right to live and the right to the national independence and self-determination. All these groups have created a unique culture and a diversified society of Vietnam.