VIETNAM’S POPULATION REACHES 96 MILLION, RANKS 15TH GLOBALLY

Vietnam’s population reached over 96.2 million as of April 1, making the country the world’s 15th most populous country and the third in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia and the Philippines, heard participants in a teleconference on July 11.

The statistics released at the teleconference on preliminary results of the 2019 Vietnam Population and Housing Census show that of the total 96,208,984 people, the male population amounts to over 47.8 million, accounting for 49.8% of the total, and the female population is over 48.3 million, representing 50.2%, the local media reported.

The census results also indicate that Vietnam has a high population density, at 290 people per square kilometer in 2019, up 31 people per square kilometer against the figure seen in 2009.

Hanoi and HCMC are the two most densely populated areas in the country, with 2,398 people per square kilometer and 4,363 people per square kilometer, respectively.

Speaking at the online conference, General Statistics Office General Director Nguyen Bich Lam noted that the country has 91.7% of the school-age population attending school, whereas the percentage of school-age children not attending school fell to 8.3% in 2019 from 16.4% in 2009.

The rate of school-age children failing to attend school in the countryside is 1.7 times higher than the rate in cities, Lam said.

Lam also pointed out that the percentage of school-aged children who do not attend school in the Mekong Delta region was the lowest in the country, at 3.2%.

The literacy rate of the population aged 15 and above in 2019 reached 95.8%, up 1.8 points against 2009.

Apart from this, the results of the population and housing census also show that the country is currently home to more than 26.8 million households, an increase of 4.4 million versus 2009, or a smaller-sized family on average.

Of the total 26.9 million households, some 4,800 have no houses. On average, 1.8 out of every 10,000 households do not have a house, marking a significant drop from the 4.7 out of every 10,000 households seen in 2009.

Over the past 20 years, housing conditions, especially in cities, have improved considerably. As many as 93.1% of households have accommodation, which is a positive sign and indicates the efficiency of the execution of housing development policies, Lam remarked.

The housing area averaged some 23.5 square meters per person in 2019, far higher than the 6.8 square meters per person of 10 years ago.

Source: The Saigon Times