UNFPA: No population boom in Vietnam

02/07/2008 -- 8:21 PM

Hanoi (VNA) – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on July 2 denied media information that there might be a population boom in Vietnam in the future. “Recent information on the media regarding a possible population boom in Vietnam is incorrect,” Assistant to the UNFPA Representative Tran Thi Van told the press. Van said in a meeting in Hanoi that the total fertility rate, which represents the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime, has obviously dropped over recent years, from 2.33 in 1999 to 2.07 last year. The decrease is significant to a country with a high number of women at child-bearing ages, she added. The number of Vietnamese women having a third child continuously fell, from 21.5 percent in 2003 to 16.7 percent last year, according to surveys. Statistics released by the General Statistics Office and the Health Ministry showed a slowdown in the population growth rate despite an increase in the number of population, Van said. “In my opinion, in 20-30 years, Vietnam ’s population will be as stable as at 100-110 million,” she said. While UNFPA experts spoke highly of Vietnam ’s progress in population and family planning activities, they also said the achievements were uneven between regions and people due to differences in their knowledge and access to information and health care services. Vietnam UNFPA programme officer Phan Thi Le Mai said her organisation will focus on tackling problems that have been affecting population and family planning work in Vietnam . These problems include the increasing migration from rural to urban areas, local people’s preference for sons over daughters and difficulties in raising public awareness of family planning measures and reproductive health care in remote areas.-Enditem
Send this page	Print

State leader pushes Nghe An’s poverty reduction efforts (02/07/2008)

Holcim Viet Nam sponsors Green Summer (02/07/2008)

Malaysia firm set to open university area (02/07/2008)

Assistance to hunger-hit ethnic minority people (02/07/2008)

High school headmasters attend regional training course (02/07/2008)

Vietnam Red Cross receives widespread support (01/07/2008)

Six US-financed HIV/AIDS programmes launched (01/07/2008)

French naval ship visits Vietnam (01/07/2008)

Fund launched to offer children free milk (01/07/2008)

Two businesses win int’l quality award (01/07/2008)