Tomorrow at 12am, Vietnam’s population will reach 90 million according to the General Office of Population and Family Planning.
While Vietnam is the 14th most populous nation in the world, the 90 million milestone falls short of predictions made by the national census agency in 1989.
Based on forecasts from that census, the population should have hit 90 million in 2002 and 105 million in 2010. But thanks to government policies, the country has been able to reduce birth rates, asserted Duong Quoc Trong, head of the agency.
Vietnam is enjoying a ‘golden period’ in which for every two working people, there is only one dependent person.
Theoretically, this should result in a sustained period of socio-economic development (see Japan in the 1950s and South Korea in the 1970s).
According to Tuoi Tre, birth rates differ greatly by region:
“Last year, birth rates varied among localities, of which HCMC had the lowest rate: 1.33 children per woman of the reproductive age. In other southern localities, such as Long An, Tien Giang, Hau Giang, Ca Mau, and Can Tho, the birth rates ranged between 1.5 and 1.6. Meanwhile, many northern and central provinces had much higher rates, 3-3.4.”
Authorities will honor the 90 million population milestone by having Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan visit one of the babies expected to be born at 12am, Nov. 1.
[Tuoi Tre // Image via Lorna87]
