Vietnam has actively responded to World Population Day this year (July
11) by joining with the United Nations (UN) in Vietnam to launch a
national campaign called "7 Billion Actions" to draw attention to the
significance of the world’s population reaching 7 billion by the end of
October.
At a press conference on World Population Day in Hanoi on July 11,
Duong Quoc Trong, General Director of General Office for Population and
Family Planning, said that together with the UN, Vietnam would carry
out the “7 billion actions” campaign, with the aim of making a
difference in the lives of community members throughout the country.
“In
a world of seven billion, we are all in this together and are counting
on each other. Working together, incremental actions will create
exponential results,” Trong said.
In Vietnam , the population
growth rate declined from 1.7 percent in the period of 1989-1999 to 1.2
percent in 1999-2009. This confirmed the fact that the country’s
fertility rate has been steadily declining over the past 20 years.
However, the imbalance of sex ratio at birth, population ageing and
access to sexual and reproductive health services for young people are
among emerging population issues that need to be addressed now and in
the future.
Vietnam ’s poverty rate has reduced to under 14
percent, but poverty reduction among population groups and areas remains
a big challenge for the country.
According to the 2009 national
population and housing census, Vietnam has entered a period of
“Golden population” that would last until 2041. This was both an
opportunity and a challenge for Vietnam ’s population.
At the
press conference, representatives from the Vietnam General Office for
Population and Family Planning and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
provided information on population-related work in Vietnam in the first
six months of this year and UNFPA’s investment plans for the Vietnam
population programme, as well as current challenges, helping the country
take the opportunity and improve the composition of the population./.