Hanoi (VNA) – An international symposium tookplace in Hanoi on October 19 to suggest policy solutions towards helpingVietnam develop sustainably amid demographic changes.

Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of SocialSciences (VASS) Dang Nguyen Anh said the country has a big population comparedto other nations in Southeast Asia. It is facing many new demographicchallenges, particularly population aging, migration, and the imbalance in the ratioof men to women.

In order to stay on track with sustainabledevelopment, the country needs solutions to demographic problems, he noted.

Statistics in 2012 show that theover-15-year-old population numbered 52.3 million and will reach 53.1 millionby 2020. Anh said this is a big opportunity to boost economic growth but alsocauses a very big pressure on employment and how to use the abundant workforceeffectively. The crux of the issue is that the Vietnamese workforce still lackstechnical skills, unable to meet the requirements of the nationalindustrialisation and modernisation period.

Vietnam entered the “golden populationstructure” period in 2006, with almost 60 percent of its population at workingage. The dependency ratio dropped to 50 percent in 2007 and 42.1 percent in2014, but it is forecast to bounce back to reach 55.2 percent by 2049.

People of working age, between 15 and 64,accounted for 69.11 percent of the population in 2009. The over-15 workforce hasmade up 59 percent of the population since 2012 and will continue to grow by 1percent annually to 53.15 million people in 2020.

Deputy Director of the VASS’s Institute ofSociology Nguyen Duc Vinh said that in order to develop sustainably, Vietnam needsto optimise the potential of its population, while concurrently limiting andcoping with the adverse impact of demographic changes. It should not let thebirth rate decline too sharply, which could lead to rapid population aging, butmake use of the “golden population structure” to improve population quality andhelp with industrialisation and modernisation.

He said Vietnam’s “golden population” period maylast for some 30-35 years and end in 2040. This is a good chance for thecountry to boost the division of labour if the education-training system isable to equip the workforce with necessary knowledge and skills. However, italso poses certain challenges due to the low educational level and skillsshortage among Vietnamese labourers.

Participants said Vietnam needs to be well awareof the role of population in sustainable development. In the coming time, thecountry should create a high-quality workforce, diversify occupations in ruralareas, enhance the quality of labour-intensive industries to increase jobopportunities, and promote jobs that can generate high value so as to ensure socialwelfare when it enters a more mature population period. –VNA