The Prime Minister has issued Directive 44/CT-TTg on the organisation of the fifth national population and housing census in April, 2019. 

A census taker collects information at a family

The census, to be launched at 0:00 hour on April 1, 2019, is conducted to assess the implementation of socio-economic development policies and plans in 2011-2020 and serve as reference for the building of socio-economic development policies and plans for 2021-2030.  

The directive assigns specific tasks for ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Governmental agencies and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to prepare for the census. 

The General Statistics Office (GSO), under the instruction of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, is to coordinate with ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Governmental agencies and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to build plans on conducting the census, carrying out piloting surveys and rehearsal. All preparations and rehearsals must be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018.   

The Finance Ministry, in collaboration with the Finance Ministry, is tasked with preparing the census cost estimate and setting aside budget for the census. 

The Ministry of Information and Communication must build communication plans to popularise the census. 

Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Governmental agencies and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities have the responsibility to provide administrative data for the census.-VNA