Nguyen Van Tan, vice chief of the Ministry of Health's General Officefor Population and Family Planning, spoke with Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam(Vietnam Economic Times) about solutions to problems created bydemographic changes.
Q: Against a backdrop of low socio-economicdevelopment and increasingly limited resources, Vietnam is experiencingsome dramatic demographic changes. How is this situation affecting thenation's development?
A: There are now 63 millionpeople of working age (15-64), that is roughly 69 percent of ournational population of over 90 million. This labour force has greatpotential to create material wealth for the country and to invest indevelopment. Altogether they have tremendous purchasing power andconstitute a huge market. Their abundance, typical industriousness andcompetitive labour costs make Vietnam an attractive destination forinternational investors.
On the other hand, a great number ofworking-age people newly entering the labour market pose a big challengefor the employment rate. An insufficient provision of employmentopportunities will lead to negative impacts on social order andsecurity.
When it comes to unemployment, the issue isn't just alack of jobs, but also that the labour force is not able to satisfy workrequirements such as general education, professional skills, workmanagement skills and stamina. The very fact that Vietnam, to date,cannot manufacture a decent screw or a small engine component ordered byan international investor justifies this assessment.
Additionally, Vietnam will become one of the world's fastest agingpopulations. It is expected that by 2050, Vietnam will face somethinglike what Japan is facing now.
Worse still, despiteour high life expectancy, the healthy period in an average person's lifeis relatively short in Vietnam. This basically translates into highhealthcare costs, further compounded by the fact that nearly 70 percentof senior citizens living in the countryside have very little savings.This will really challenge the state's healthcare and social insurancesystems.
Q: The 2011-2020 Population andReproductive Health Strategy sets a target of keeping the populationbelow 93 million by the end of 2015. Is this target achievable?
A: The mid-term population and housing census conducted in April 1,2014 by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam shows that thecountry's population at the time of survey was 90.49 million and thepopulation growth rate is 1.06 percent. This translates to an annualaddition of 900,000 people; the target is definitely achievable.
Q: The goal seems to be to reduce the population growth rate andmaintain a low birth rate in order to both improve population qualityand balance out the population structure. What measures must be taken toachieve this?
A: At present, birth rates vary byregion and by province. In cities the rate is 1.85 births while it is2.21 births in rural areas for every woman aged 15-49.
The replacement fertility rate, the rate at which women must givebirth to enough babies to sustain the region's population level, isparticularly low in the Mekong delta and Southeast regions. In thelatter's case, the rate is only 1.56 births, which nears the rates indeveloped countries.
What we have to do then is toprovide some reproductive services to people, especially young people,in areas with low replacement fertility rates.
Asfor population quality, we will carry out projects in collaboration withother sectors and engage every level of society to improve the qualityof and access to resources to improve national socio-economicdevelopment.
To improve care for senior citizens,the approach will be family and community based. We will extend ongoingprojects that have received positive feedback from the general publicsuch as pre-birth and post-birth screenings, discouraging childmarriages and inbreeding, and providing health consultation andexamination services before marriage, especially people from ethnicminority groups.
Q: State funding for population andfamily planning has seen sharp cuts in recent years. What difficultieshas this created for the sector?
A: Our fundingcomes from a single source, that is the percent of the state budgetearmarked for the National Target Programme on Population and FamilyPlanning. The recent cuts to this programme's budget have greatlyaffected our ability to procure means of birth control or pay forawareness raising campaigns.
If this programme isscrapped in 2016, many of the national population and family planningtargets will not be achieved. This in turn will hurt the ability to meetother national targets as well.
Our monitoring agency –the Ministry of Health – suggests that the Government replace theprogramme with a new one called The National Target Programme onPopulation and Health to keep the efforts going.-VNA
Q: Against a backdrop of low socio-economicdevelopment and increasingly limited resources, Vietnam is experiencingsome dramatic demographic changes. How is this situation affecting thenation's development?
A: There are now 63 millionpeople of working age (15-64), that is roughly 69 percent of ournational population of over 90 million. This labour force has greatpotential to create material wealth for the country and to invest indevelopment. Altogether they have tremendous purchasing power andconstitute a huge market. Their abundance, typical industriousness andcompetitive labour costs make Vietnam an attractive destination forinternational investors.
On the other hand, a great number ofworking-age people newly entering the labour market pose a big challengefor the employment rate. An insufficient provision of employmentopportunities will lead to negative impacts on social order andsecurity.
When it comes to unemployment, the issue isn't just alack of jobs, but also that the labour force is not able to satisfy workrequirements such as general education, professional skills, workmanagement skills and stamina. The very fact that Vietnam, to date,cannot manufacture a decent screw or a small engine component ordered byan international investor justifies this assessment.
Additionally, Vietnam will become one of the world's fastest agingpopulations. It is expected that by 2050, Vietnam will face somethinglike what Japan is facing now.
Worse still, despiteour high life expectancy, the healthy period in an average person's lifeis relatively short in Vietnam. This basically translates into highhealthcare costs, further compounded by the fact that nearly 70 percentof senior citizens living in the countryside have very little savings.This will really challenge the state's healthcare and social insurancesystems.
Q: The 2011-2020 Population andReproductive Health Strategy sets a target of keeping the populationbelow 93 million by the end of 2015. Is this target achievable?
A: The mid-term population and housing census conducted in April 1,2014 by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam shows that thecountry's population at the time of survey was 90.49 million and thepopulation growth rate is 1.06 percent. This translates to an annualaddition of 900,000 people; the target is definitely achievable.
Q: The goal seems to be to reduce the population growth rate andmaintain a low birth rate in order to both improve population qualityand balance out the population structure. What measures must be taken toachieve this?
A: At present, birth rates vary byregion and by province. In cities the rate is 1.85 births while it is2.21 births in rural areas for every woman aged 15-49.
The replacement fertility rate, the rate at which women must givebirth to enough babies to sustain the region's population level, isparticularly low in the Mekong delta and Southeast regions. In thelatter's case, the rate is only 1.56 births, which nears the rates indeveloped countries.
What we have to do then is toprovide some reproductive services to people, especially young people,in areas with low replacement fertility rates.
Asfor population quality, we will carry out projects in collaboration withother sectors and engage every level of society to improve the qualityof and access to resources to improve national socio-economicdevelopment.
To improve care for senior citizens,the approach will be family and community based. We will extend ongoingprojects that have received positive feedback from the general publicsuch as pre-birth and post-birth screenings, discouraging childmarriages and inbreeding, and providing health consultation andexamination services before marriage, especially people from ethnicminority groups.
Q: State funding for population andfamily planning has seen sharp cuts in recent years. What difficultieshas this created for the sector?
A: Our fundingcomes from a single source, that is the percent of the state budgetearmarked for the National Target Programme on Population and FamilyPlanning. The recent cuts to this programme's budget have greatlyaffected our ability to procure means of birth control or pay forawareness raising campaigns.
If this programme isscrapped in 2016, many of the national population and family planningtargets will not be achieved. This in turn will hurt the ability to meetother national targets as well.
Our monitoring agency –the Ministry of Health – suggests that the Government replace theprogramme with a new one called The National Target Programme onPopulation and Health to keep the efforts going.-VNA
