Vietnam’s population is expected to touch 91.3 million in 2015, below the targeted maximum 93 million, according to the General Department of Population and Family Planning (GDPFP).

GDPFP Director Duong Quoc Trong told the Vietnam Governmental Portal that although disparities in the sex ratio at birth have been narrowed, it still averages 112.6 boys to 100 girls.

The population sector will expand its interventions into redressing the problematic sex ratio at birth imbalance.

Vietnam’s population is aging at one of the world’s five fastest paces and the country will lack human resources for national development in the coming decades, said GDPFP Deputy Director Le Canh Nhac.

He said the GDPFP is encouraging couples to have a maximum of two children instead of the old motto of “each couple should have one or two children” to meet the labor demand and reduce population aging.

Vietnam’s population reached 90 million on November 1, 2013, making the country the 14th most populous in the world and the 3rd largest in Southeast Asia.

It is projected to hit a maximum scale of 110 million by 2050, 18 percent of which are those aged over 65 years old.-VNA