VietNamNet Bridge – According to the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), the Vietnamese population is growing old at the highest pace in the history.
To turn from the golden population to old population, it took France for 115 years, Sweden 70 years but Vietnam will only need 15-20 years.

The above information was released at a press conference in Hanoi by Duong Quoc Trong, chief of the General Department of Population – Planning Family on July 11.

The golden population is the structure with young people accounting for the largest portion of the total population (two working-age per one dependant). The old population structure is divided into two stages. When people of over 60 years old accounts for 10 percent of the population, the population is getting old and it is called old population when the rate of old people accounts for 20 percent.

Vietnam entered the period of golden population in 2007 and it now enters the period of population getting old.

Vietnamese population growing old at high speed because the lifespan is increasing, while the birth and death rates reduced.

According to Trong, Vietnamese lifespan has risen very fast, around 1.5 times over the world average. In the last 50 years, the average lifespan in the world rose by 20 years, from 48 to 68, that of Vietnamese increased from 40 to 73.

The number of elderly people increased faster than other groups of population. In 1999, the number of over 100-year-old people was 3,000 and it reached 7,200 in 2009.

This fact has posed a great challenge for Vietnam because Vietnamese will get old before getting rich, Trong said. Vietnam has not prepared for this. With the population getting old, labor power will reduce while the job system and social welfares for this group are not ready. Moreover, 70 percent of old people live in the countryside and they do not have a pension.

Trong stressed another challenge of population, the widening gap between male and female inborn babies in Vietnam. Last year, each 111.2 male babies were born; there were around 100 female babies. If this trend is not improved, Vietnam will have an excessive of men in the next two decades.

According to Trong, the quality of population is also low. Vietnamese are still limited in weight, height and durability in comparison with neighboring countries.

The world population will reach 7 billion this October. A national campaign named “7 billion people action” has been launched by the Ministry of Health and the UNFPA in Vietnam to attract people’s attention to population issues. The campaign will focus on solving the following issues: poverty and inequality, women and young girls, youth, productive health and the rights, environment, growing-old population and population deficiency.

In the past, the world had an additional one billion people in many decades, but it is only one decade now.

“Population growth still continues in the world. The global population has around 78 million people more. Especially, of each 100 people, up to 97 were born in underdeveloped countries,” Trong said.

PV