Vietnam’s population hit 90.49 million as of April 1, 2014, of which 50.7% is female and the rest is male, the latest population and housing census showed. The census enables Vietnam to build socio-economic development plans for the 2016-2020 period, Nguyen Van Lieu, deputy director of the government’s General Statistics Office (GSO) said at a conference on Dec 17. Arthur Erken, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) chief representative in Vietnam, said at the event that demographic changes of Vietnam require suitable policies in areas including education, jobs, and social welfare. During the 2009-2014 period, Vietnam’s population increased by 1.06% per year, lower than 1.2% annually during the 1999-2009 period. As many as 33.1% of population live in urban areas and the rest in rural areas. The country’s age dependency ratio, the ratio of dependents – people younger than 15 or older than 64 – to the working-age population – those ages between 15 and 64, is 44%. The rate of people aging above 64 accounts for 7.1%. Vietnam has been warned of signs of population aging. Localities with population of more than three million people include the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City with 7.95 million, the capital city of Hanoi with 7.06 million and the central province of Thanh Hoa with 3.49 million. The census also showed that living standards of Vietnamese people have improved. Around 46.6% of households live in permanent housing, 43.7% in semi-firm, while the rest live in simple and non-permanent housing. (Hanoi Moi – New Hanoi Dec 18 p1, Lao Dong – Labor Dec 18 p1)
