A nurse carries a newborn baby at a hospital in Hanoi Wednesday

The nation’s population growth rate in the last decade has been the lowest in the last 50 years at 1.2 percent, and its female over male ratio has fallen slightly during the same period.

With a population of about 85.8 million people, Vietnam is the third most populous country in Southeast Asia and the thirteenth in the world.

The population has increased by 9.47 million since 1999, said Do Thuc, deputy head of the General Statistics Office, citing the 2009 Population and Housing Census.

According to the report, the country’s population was 85,789,573 as of 0:0 hours on April 1, 2009. The 1999 statistics were 76,323,173.

Thuc, who is also member of the Central Population and Housing Census Steering Committee, said the average annual growth rate in population over the past decade – 1.2 percent - has been the lowest in the past 50 years.

The census also found a remarkable difference in population density among regions, he said.

The Red River Delta is the most populous region with nearly 19.58 million persons and the Mekong Delta has around 17.18 million.

The two deltas with fertile land and favorable conditions for agricultural cultivation account for 43 percent of the country’s population.

The north-central and central coastal regions have roughly 18.84 million people, while the five provinces in the Central Highlands have over 5.1 million.

Over the past decade, the lowest average annual growth rate in the population has been found in the north and central coastal region, at 0.4 percent, followed by the Mekong River Delta, at 0.6 percent. The southeast region has seen the highest annual population growth rate, at 3.2 percent.

About 25.3 million are living in urban areas and 60.4 million in rural areas. So, the urban population now accounts for 29.6 percent of the total, compared to 23.5 percent 10 years ago.

Between 1999 and 2009, the urban population increased at the rate of 3.4 percent per year on average, while the figure in rural areas was just 0.4 percent.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said at the press conference the rapid increase in urban population was mainly due to greater levels of urbanization and migration.

The census also found Vietnam has more than 7,200 people who are more than 100 years old.

Gender imbalance

The census found the national male over female ratio has increased continuously, and now stands at 98.1:100 females. This ratio was 96.7:100 females in the 1999 census.

Hung said there has been change for the better in terms of balance in the gender ratio, but some regions have not done so well.

The male over female ratio is higher in regions that have developed more rapidly and have attracted male immigrants from distant provinces, he said.

The average annual growth rate of the population of two regions, the Central Highlands and the Southeast, is higher than that of the whole country. And the sex ratio of the Central Highlands is 102 males per 100 females, higher than the national average, while that of the southeast region is 95.3 males per 100 females, which is lower than the national average.

Tran Thi Van, a representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), called for more surveys on the gender ratio at different groups, including those under five years old, to have proper evaluation of gender balance.

Only such detailed surveys could answer the question of whether there has been a trend of preferring gender [mostly male] in Vietnam, she said.

She also said that UNFPA would support such research in the near future.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung, head of the Central Population and Housing Census Steering Committee, also said: “There should be a detailed survey of gender ratio for groups of under five and between five and ten years old to have proper evaluation about changes in gender ratio over the past decade.”

Bruce Campbell, representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam, said the next step of declaring the birth rate, death rate and unemployment rate was important.

Exact statistics are of great significance in mapping out socio-economic development plans, he said, adding that the UN had pledged to support the General Statistics Office of Vietnam in analyzing surveyed information.

Deputy PM Hung said the full result of the census may be declared in September 2010, including statistics on houses as well as assessment of access to education and healthcare.

Reported by Bao Van – Tue Nguyen