Publications on the 2009 Vietnam Population and Housing Census were released in Hanoi on June 14, providing data on population, serving a basis to assess millennium development goals and support the creation of accurate and appropriate development policies and strategies.

Addressing the launch ceremony, Director of the General Statistics Office (GSO) Do Thuc and United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Bruce Campbell affirmed that the results of the 2009 population and housing census would play an important role in making plans and devising socio-economic development policies.

They stressed the importance of data from the census in monitoring differences between urban and rural areas, geographical areas and vulnerable population groups, ethnic minorities, as well as in meeting goals and targets set in the socio-economic development plan.

The data also helped to evaluate the process of achieving millennium development goals, they said.

With the currrent birthrate, Vietnam’s population would reach 95.3 million by 2019, 102.7 million by 2029 and 108.7 million by 2049, according to the GSO’s population predictions.

In the publications, analyses on education, including the literacy rate among those aged from 15 and over and among ethnic people, and the difference in the literacy rate between men and women, show the country’s progress in meeting the millennium development goal on gender equality.

Analyses on the age and gender structure showed that Vietnam had entered a young population structure period, which started from 2007 and was forecast to end by 2041. This information would help the Government make policies on human resource development and job generation as well as measures to ensure social security and health care for the elderly.

The publications also provide analyses on gender equality, migration, addressing economic challenges and issues on culture and society, pressures on urban infrastructure and demands on social services./.