Older but not healthier
“Viet Nam’s population is aging earlier than predicted. Vietnam is one of several countries that have an elderly population and yet are not wealthy nations,” said Duong Quoc Trong, chief of the General Department of Population and Family Planning at a seminar on Viet Nam’s population planning for 2010-2020, says a report by local online newspaper, VNExpress.
A country is defined as ‘having an elderly population’ when 10 percent of the population is over 60 years old and 7.5 percent is over 65 accounts for 7.5 percent. Statistics from 2008 show that Vietnam’s population over 60 years old was approximately 9.5 percent, and 7.5 percent was over 65 years.
Though the average lifespan of the Vietnamese is relatively high, its ‘average healthy lifespan’ is rather low, 116th out of 174 countries surveyed. The average Vietnamese has 12 years of illness during his or her 72.2 years of life.
Boy/girl imbalance grows
Participants in the seminar also expressed concern about the increasing sex ratio imbalance of babies born in Vietnam. From 1979 to 1999, the ratio of male/female newborns increased only one percentage point, from 110 male/100 female newborn babies in 1979 to 111 male/100 female newborn babies in 1999. From the ten year period between 1999 and 2008, however, this ratio rose an additional percentage point, reaching 112 male/100 female newborn babies in 2008.
This rate of increase is even higher than India or China, countries famous for their highly imbalanced sex ratios. In 2007, 33 out of 64 provinces and cities in Vietnam had a ratio of 110 male/100 female newborn babies; in Hai Duong province, east of Hanoi, the ratio was 135/100.
According to Wikipedia, "In humans the secondary sex ratio (i.e. at birth) is commonly assumed to be 105 boys to 100 girls.”
“We don’t have effective measures to control this increase [in the ratio of male to female births],” said Dinh Cong Thoan, also from the General Department of Population and Family Planning. “Our main methods are campaigns, preventing publishers and websites from producing books or articles on sex selection, and banning health centers from revealing the sex of babies to pregnant women.”
Experts suggest changing abortion regulations to solve the imbalanced sex ratios.
Concern was also expressed about the rising number of women of child-bearing age (between 14 to 49 years old). The number of women in Vietnam between ages 20 and 34 is predicted to rise in the next decade to 12.3 million. This cohort of females is the largest in Vietnam’s demographic history. Demographers call it “the second population explosion”.
VNExpress comments that whereas the principal objective of the Population Department has been reducing the birth rate, in the future population officials must focus on improving the population’s health and quality of life. [rc]
VietNamNet/VNE
Copyright of VietNamNet Bridge
August 22, 2009
VIET NAM: Population dilemmas - Older but not healthier
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HANOI, Viet Nam / VietNam Bridge / VietNam Net / August 22, 2009
Infants and the elderly: VN discusses population dilemmas
A fast-growing population over 65 plus increasing imbalances in sex ratios of newborns present dilemmas for Vietnam’s population policy analysts.
Older but not healthier
“Viet Nam’s population is aging earlier than predicted. Vietnam is one of several countries that have an elderly population and yet are not wealthy nations,” said Duong Quoc Trong, chief of the General Department of Population and Family Planning at a seminar on Viet Nam’s population planning for 2010-2020, says a report by local online newspaper, VNExpress.
A country is defined as ‘having an elderly population’ when 10 percent of the population is over 60 years old and 7.5 percent is over 65 accounts for 7.5 percent. Statistics from 2008 show that Vietnam’s population over 60 years old was approximately 9.5 percent, and 7.5 percent was over 65 years.
Though the average lifespan of the Vietnamese is relatively high, its ‘average healthy lifespan’ is rather low, 116th out of 174 countries surveyed. The average Vietnamese has 12 years of illness during his or her 72.2 years of life.
Boy/girl imbalance grows
Participants in the seminar also expressed concern about the increasing sex ratio imbalance of babies born in Vietnam. From 1979 to 1999, the ratio of male/female newborns increased only one percentage point, from 110 male/100 female newborn babies in 1979 to 111 male/100 female newborn babies in 1999. From the ten year period between 1999 and 2008, however, this ratio rose an additional percentage point, reaching 112 male/100 female newborn babies in 2008.
This rate of increase is even higher than India or China, countries famous for their highly imbalanced sex ratios. In 2007, 33 out of 64 provinces and cities in Vietnam had a ratio of 110 male/100 female newborn babies; in Hai Duong province, east of Hanoi, the ratio was 135/100.
According to Wikipedia, "In humans the secondary sex ratio (i.e. at birth) is commonly assumed to be 105 boys to 100 girls.”
“We don’t have effective measures to control this increase [in the ratio of male to female births],” said Dinh Cong Thoan, also from the General Department of Population and Family Planning. “Our main methods are campaigns, preventing publishers and websites from producing books or articles on sex selection, and banning health centers from revealing the sex of babies to pregnant women.”
Experts suggest changing abortion regulations to solve the imbalanced sex ratios.
Concern was also expressed about the rising number of women of child-bearing age (between 14 to 49 years old). The number of women in Vietnam between ages 20 and 34 is predicted to rise in the next decade to 12.3 million. This cohort of females is the largest in Vietnam’s demographic history. Demographers call it “the second population explosion”.
VNExpress comments that whereas the principal objective of the Population Department has been reducing the birth rate, in the future population officials must focus on improving the population’s health and quality of life. [rc]
VietNamNet/VNE
Copyright of VietNamNet Bridge
Older but not healthier
“Viet Nam’s population is aging earlier than predicted. Vietnam is one of several countries that have an elderly population and yet are not wealthy nations,” said Duong Quoc Trong, chief of the General Department of Population and Family Planning at a seminar on Viet Nam’s population planning for 2010-2020, says a report by local online newspaper, VNExpress.
A country is defined as ‘having an elderly population’ when 10 percent of the population is over 60 years old and 7.5 percent is over 65 accounts for 7.5 percent. Statistics from 2008 show that Vietnam’s population over 60 years old was approximately 9.5 percent, and 7.5 percent was over 65 years.
Though the average lifespan of the Vietnamese is relatively high, its ‘average healthy lifespan’ is rather low, 116th out of 174 countries surveyed. The average Vietnamese has 12 years of illness during his or her 72.2 years of life.
Boy/girl imbalance grows
Participants in the seminar also expressed concern about the increasing sex ratio imbalance of babies born in Vietnam. From 1979 to 1999, the ratio of male/female newborns increased only one percentage point, from 110 male/100 female newborn babies in 1979 to 111 male/100 female newborn babies in 1999. From the ten year period between 1999 and 2008, however, this ratio rose an additional percentage point, reaching 112 male/100 female newborn babies in 2008.
This rate of increase is even higher than India or China, countries famous for their highly imbalanced sex ratios. In 2007, 33 out of 64 provinces and cities in Vietnam had a ratio of 110 male/100 female newborn babies; in Hai Duong province, east of Hanoi, the ratio was 135/100.
According to Wikipedia, "In humans the secondary sex ratio (i.e. at birth) is commonly assumed to be 105 boys to 100 girls.”
“We don’t have effective measures to control this increase [in the ratio of male to female births],” said Dinh Cong Thoan, also from the General Department of Population and Family Planning. “Our main methods are campaigns, preventing publishers and websites from producing books or articles on sex selection, and banning health centers from revealing the sex of babies to pregnant women.”
Experts suggest changing abortion regulations to solve the imbalanced sex ratios.
Concern was also expressed about the rising number of women of child-bearing age (between 14 to 49 years old). The number of women in Vietnam between ages 20 and 34 is predicted to rise in the next decade to 12.3 million. This cohort of females is the largest in Vietnam’s demographic history. Demographers call it “the second population explosion”.
VNExpress comments that whereas the principal objective of the Population Department has been reducing the birth rate, in the future population officials must focus on improving the population’s health and quality of life. [rc]
VietNamNet/VNE
Copyright of VietNamNet Bridge
