Most of the 2,000 plus international journalists in Hanoi to cover the summit for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation will probably miss the real story of Vietnam: a country going through an internal crisis.

While Vietnam is being lauded as an emerging economic tiger of Asia, behind that image are an array of chronic social and environmental problems seemingly impossible to resolve.

Since the war ended in 1975, the country's population has more than doubled, from around 35 million to 84 million. Nearly two out of three Vietnamese are too young to have any direct memory of the Vietnam War. What they do have is a new longing for the West and its stuff.

Materialism is the new ideology. These days everyone needs a cell phone, a motorcycle, and if they can afford it, a flat screen tv and a laptop. Many will do practically anything to own new toys.

When Vietnam emerged from the Cold War the forces of globalization quickly swept it up. The result is a country whose Confucian practices – modesty, frugality, respect - have been thrown out the window, especially in urban areas.

Part of the cultural revolution taking place is a sexual one. Once known for its modesty and traditional practices, the abortion rate is around 1.5 million a year, many unwanted teenage pregnancies. Statistics estimate that in only 4 years a million people will be infected with HIV. Prostitution is rampant, with some NGO estimates that there are more than 300,000 prostitutes in the country. Many other women are being trafficked to be prostitutes overseas.

Vietnam accounts for around 10% of trafficked women and children worldwide. According to UNICEF and Vietnam's Ministry of Justice as well as other groups, as many as 400,000 Vietnamese women and children have been trafficked overseas. It is a conservative estimate and doesn’t account for mail order brides where women are sent to places like Taiwan and Korea to work in brothels. And they can’t expect much protection from their government.

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