Current population in Vietnam touches 90 million — TalkVietnam

According to the General Office of Population and Family Planning under the Ministry of Health, the population in Vietnam will touch 90 million on November 1, 2013.

The population in Vietnam will touch 90 million on November 1, 2013

Vietnam is the 14th most populous country in the world and the third in Southeast Asia. The General Office of Population and Family Planning says the projection takes into account factors such as the country’s birth and death rate and the figure is very important for family planning tasks across the country.
If the current birth rate that sees each woman having an average of two children remains static, the population will probably be on track and target and hit 110 million by 2050 with 18 percent of elderly people over the age of 65. This would be an ideal population structure.
This indicates that Vietnam is entering a period known as ‘golden population structure’, meaning that every two or more people are working, with only one dependent family member.
This is a good opportunity for boosting socio-economic development as the country has around 63 million people of labor age and every year there will be one million laborers.
The period of ‘golden population structure’ only takes place once in the demographic history of each nation and will continue for 30-35 years. This is a unique opportunity in which the most favorable demographic structure possible can promote the process of industrialization and modernization in Vietnam.
Accordingly, in order to take full advantage of the ‘golden population structure’ to boost the economy, it is necessary to have good policies to enhance benefits for the young labor force and increase the number of jobs requiring highly-qualified and highly productive labor.





Current population in Vietnam touches 90 million — TalkVietnam

Vietnam’s population hits 90 million — TalkVietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – With nearly 89 million people, Vietnam has become the 13th most populous country in the world and 3rd in Southeast Asia.

The information was released by Deputy Minister of Health - Mr. Nguyen Viet Tien - at the conference reviewing 10-year implementation of the Population Ordinance, which took place on Tuesday in Hanoi.

According to Tien, although the growth rate decreased (an increase of one million annually) in recent years, the population density was quite large, up to 267 people per one square kilometer, adding Vietnam to the group of countries with the world’s highest population density.
In addition, the gender imbalance at birth is still a big issue. Hung Yen province in northern Vietnam has the highest gender imbalance ratio at birth of 130.7 boys/100 girls. The desire to have a son to “worship the ancestors and take care of the” is still quite common in Vietnamese families.
According to Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu, from the Institute of Population and Social Affairs, the percentage of pregnant women who know ahead of the sex of the fetus in 2012 increased to more than 81 percent. The Population Ordinance bans prenatal sex selection but the ratio of gender imbalance at birth increased steadily. Thus, the violation of the regulations on gender issues was quite popular.
Besides, Vietnam is in the golden age of population but the quality of human resources, the quality of the population is limited. The rate of people who can read and write high is high but the training level is low. Less than 15 percent of the population (aged 15 and over) are technically trained.
Hence, the Ministry of Health has established the Population Law Drafting Committee to amend a number of issues, such as donation, selling of sperm, eggs, embryos, surrogate pregnancy, consultancy services of sex selection at birth, sex selection, etc.
According to Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu, the Population Law should be adjusted in the direction of tightening the regulations on abortion, the conditions for abortion.
Le Ha




Vietnam’s population hits 90 million — TalkVietnam

Average life expectancy of Vietnamese people 72.8 years | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Average life expectancy of Vietnamese people 72.8 years | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update: "LookAtVietnam -
The average life expectancy of a Vietnamese person is now 72.8 years, Dr. Duong
Quoc Trong, Director of the General Department of Population and Family
Planning announced at a meeting in Hanoi on December 20.

The average life
expectancy of a Vietnamese person is now 72.8 years, but the age that most
people experience a healthy life is only up to 66

He said this at the
meeting held to mark Vietnam’s Population Day, which is December 26.

Although the life
span rose to 72.8 years old, the age that most people experience a healthy life
is only up to 66. Vietnam is rank 116 over 182 nations in the world in the
field.

However, most of the
population is still faced with many challenges, such as low quality living and
the imbalance of gender issues. During the year, 1.24 million babies were born,
4 percent less than in the same period last year.

In addition, the
gender ratio in Vietnam was 106 boys per 103 girls. But now this has changed to
111 boys per 103 girls.

The number of the
third child was 122,600, which is a 6 per cent decrease over the same period
last year. Nevertheless, only nine provinces reported a third child, meanwhile
40 over 63 provinces, state that the newly born babies have decreased
dramatically.

The factors that determine
whether a population grows or falls includes rates of reproduction and survival
of people and the longevity of the citizens.

Source: SGGP

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

100 million people fast approaching! Vietnam

Photo:Chuck Kuhn
The birth rate in Vietnam is quickly rising again, posing many challenges for the country. Food shortages accompany enormous populations. The health sector will have to take drastic measures to prevent the “prospect” of a population of 100 million.
Limited land, crowded population
With limited land and natural resources, Vietnam has to nurture over 86 million people. At the current growth rate, Vietnam’s population would hit 115-120 million people in the not too distant future.
Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu said without drastic measures to curb the birth rate, Vietnam’s population could even reach 145-150 million.

The increase of population, according to experts, will slow down economic growth and increase unemployment. Vietnam is now in a period of golden population, during which the number of working-age people is higher than that of dependent people (children under 15 and elderly people over 64). Annually, Vietnam has around 1.5-1.6 million people reach working age, posing challenges in creating jobs for new labourers.

The country will enter a period of old population structure in the next 15-20 years, and at that time, challenges in terms of social welfare will arise. The young population structure goes with pressures in terms of health, education, and child care.
As the number of couples having more than two children is on the rise, Vietnam will have to once again resume its campaign to call for each family to have no more than two children.

The re-increase of the birth rate has been said to originate from the dissolving of the Committee for Population, Family and Children, which was in charge of family planning and population tasks, in August 2008. Since this agency was dissolved, family planning and population tasks in localities have been suspended.

Risk of food insecurity

Each year Vietnam has an additional 1 million people, equivalent to the population of a province, even though each couple has two children at most. Its population is forecast to reach 100 million in the coming years. At that time, the current 40 million tonnes/year of cereals that Vietnam can produce now would be just enough to feed domestic demand.
While the population is rising, the land area devoted to rice growing is narrowing. This means that while the need for rice is increasing, rice output will not increase, and may even decrease.
In the 2002-2007 period, the area for rice decreased by 0.46 million hectares (around 4% of agricultural land area). The biggest drop happened in the Mekong Delta (0.26 million hectares); the figure was around 0.11 million hectares for the Red River Delta. At the same time, the birth rate increased quickly; in particular, the ratio of families with three or more children rose by 16% and it was even 19-20% in 2008.
Vietnam aims to become an industrialised country by 2020, with over 40% of its population living in urban areas. The challenges for maintaining rice crops will be great. Controlling birth rate, thus, becomes a key job.

(Source: Lao Dong)

Population boom – a great challenge to Vietnam - Population boom – a great challenge to Vietnam

The latest statistics show that currently Vietnam has 86.5 million people, ranking 13th in the world. It has a density of 227 persons per square kilometre - six fold higher than the global level and double China’s figure.
The General Department of Population reports that by October 2008, approximately 95,000 third babies were born in 43 provinces and cities and the figure is estimated to rise to 142,000 by the year’s end. This means the number of the third child increased by 13.8 percent against in 2007.
The boom was attributed to families’ misunderstanding of the 2003 Ordinance on Population in terms of the time to give birth, the number of newborns and intervals between births.
To solve the problem, experts say there is no choice but to enhance public communication and have a decree imposing administrative fines on law-breakers.
Also many doctors have used technical measures to identify the sex of the foetus, as many couples are seeking ways to give birth to a boy rather than a girl. These practices have resulted in a gender imbalance and inequality, which are not acceptable in society.
According to the Ministry of Health, the traditional customs of an agriculture-based society and the far-reaching impact of the Confucian ideology on giving birth have posed a great challenge to Vietnam’s population and family planning programme aimed at ensuring gender equality and improving the quality of life.
The fact is that in an agriculture-based economy like Vietnam, people still have low incomes, infant mortality remains high and there are no insurance services for the elderly. Since rural people make up 73 percent of the country’s population, and basic social services are not well developed, many couples find it difficult to embrace the concept of having one or two children in their family.
Therefore, enhancing communication on population and family planning will not only encourage people to use contraception but also make them better aware of consequences they may have to face in the future.
Vietnam has an additional 1 million babies a year – a figure equivalent to the population of a province. With such population growth, it is difficult to ensure sustainable social welfare for everyone. It also poses a great challenge to the national economy which comes under mounting pressure of job generation, housing and social services.
There is no denying that the population boom has a serious impact on the living environment. For Vietnam, which has met several population and development goals, difficulties and challenges are lying ahead. Despite a fall, the birth rate is not stabilising, the rate of unwanted pregnancies and abortion among adolescents remains high, and the gender ratio at birth exceeds the normal level, with 115 boys against 100 girls. There is also growing concern about the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
To overcome these difficulties and challenges, Vietnam should make a greater effort to carry out the national population strategy with the aim of improving the people’s quality of life. However, it needs time to stabilise its population growth.
The Republic of Korea has planned to spend 140 years doubling its population while it is likely to take Thailand 87.5 years to do so. In 2004 Vietnam had 82 million people and it is forecast to double the figure in 50 years.
Vietnam will have to work harder to maintain sustainable population growth, which is the key to improving the quality of life.

Vietnam to enforce two-child rule

Vietnam to enforce two-child rule
Under the new rules couples would be penalised for having a third child
The authorities in Vietnam plan to enforce a two-child policy in an attempt to control population growth.
They say it is needed to avoid putting a strain on public services in the country of 86 million people.
A similar policy was introduced in the 1960s, but it was relaxed in 2003 to encourage small families without making it illegal to have a third child.
Critics of the government plan have warned that a younger population is essential to Vietnam's development.
Government statistics show that in the first nine months of this year, 93,000 babies were born to couples who already had two or more children.
If there is not [a sufficient] labour force as the population is aging, the country will face a lot of problems
Tran Thi VanUNFPA Spokeswoman
Under current rules, married couples have largely been at liberty to chose how many children they want and when to have them.
But according to the deputy head of Vietnam's General Office for Population and Family Planning, Duong Quoc Trong, these rules have been "so general that people haven't understood it and have sometimes taken advantage of it".
"The demographic boom is damaging the country's sustainable development," he said.
Future problems
Giang Nguyen, head of the BBC's Vietnamese service, says that urban parents have felt increasingly able to have more children as their living standards have improved.

Vietnam experienced a post-war population boom
For poorer parents, a large family can act as security in their old age in a country without universal state pensions, he adds.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has said that Vietnam should reconsider the plans because "it will be difficult to increase the population again decades after".
Vietnam currently has a population growth rate of 1.3%, which has remained largely unchanged for the past few years, according to the UN.
"In Vietnam now, life expectancy is rising, the fertility rate is decreasing and in the next 20 years, many people will be in the senior group," said UNFPA spokeswoman Tran Thi Van.
"If there is not [a sufficient] labour force as the population is aging, the country will face a lot of problems."
Certain groups would remain exempt from the new regulations, officials said, including ethnic minorities with low populations, and couples who were remarrying or had lost a child.
The proposals will be voted on by the National Assembly later this year. If they become law, parents would be penalised for having more than two children.
Officials have not yet said what the punishment would be, but they could include financial penalties or demotion at work.

Population growth rate slowing in Vietnam

Officials at the United Nations Population Fund said on July 2 that Vietnam’s rate of population increase is slowing. Vietnam’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in 2007 was 2.07, its lowest since 1999, marking an 0.2 drop from 2000. With in the ASEAN region, Vietnam’s TFR was lower than Laos (4.4) and Cambodia (3.6).

According to the GSO, TFR varies geographically, ranging from 2.8 in the central highlands, to 1.7 in the south-east.

According to Tran Thi Van, assistant representative at UNFPA, the decrease is largely due to the increasing usage of contraceptive methods.

UNFPA also noted that fewer women gave birth to a third child in 2007, dropping to 16.7 percent from 18.5 percent in 2006 and 20.8 percent in 2005. This drop correlates with education as 2007’s statistics revealed that 19.4 percent of such women finished primary school, 15.3 percent were high school graduates, and only 4.5 percent had further education.

Vietnam is entering a socalled period of Golden-population-structure so the focus now is not on reducing fertility rates but improving health and education services to adolescents and youths who will constitute the primary labour-force in the next five to ten years, according to Duong Van Dat, a National Programme on Reproductive Health Officer with UNFPA.

Golden-population structure refers to the time when young and working aged people vastly outnumber dependants by staggering amounts.

“Research by international population experts show that a Golden-population-structure comes to each nation but once and Vietnam should take full advantage of this to develop the economy,” said Dat.

To implement effective economic-boom strategies, we need to strengthen family planning activities directed at adolescents and young adults,” Dat stated, adding, “The rate of adolescents using contraception is low especially amongst the poor. A quarter to a third of youths have pre-marital sex but reproductive health-care and family planning activities are mainly focused on married people.”

According to Van, better access to contraceptive methods would reduce maternal fatalities by a third and infant mortality by a fifth. At present, 85 percent of contraceptive tools in Vietnam are donated but this aid will end in 2010 when the nation reaches an average income per head per year of 1,000 USD.

The Ministry of Health estimates Vietnam needs 132 million USD to meet the demand for contraceptive devices between 2006 and 2015.

(Source: VNA)