Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam occupies the easternmost position on the Indochinese Peninsula. Vietnam shares its land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west, and shares maritime borders with Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand, and the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia through the South China Sea, so geographically the country is a cornerstone of the ASEAN region. With an estimated 95.5 million inhabitants as of 2019, it’s the 15 th most populous country in the world. The capital city is Hanoi in the northern region, while the most populous city and largest commercial hub is Ho Chi Minh City, close to the Mekong river delta in the south.