Responding to World Population Day 11/7:
In 1994, in Cairo (Egypt), the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) took place, 179 countries including Vietnam adopted an action program with a broad vision in the field of population and development. All countries agreed on the view that it is necessary to put people at the center and affirm the close relationship between population and development.
The full integration of population issues into development strategies, planning, decision-making and resource allocation at all levels and regions to appropriately address population indicators, including population growth rate, age structure, fertility, mortality, migration, etc., affects all aspects of human, economic and social development.
The celebration of World Population Day on July 11 this year was chosen with the theme: "Celebrating 30 years of implementing the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo 1994".
Parade in response to World Population Day July 11 in Viet Tri city.
Celebrating World Population Day on July 11 this year with the theme: "Celebrating 30 years of implementing the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo 1994" and the theme chosen by Vietnam is "Investing in population work is investing in sustainable development".
Over the past 30 years, Vietnam has applied innovative approaches to address inequality and narrow the gap in socio-economic development between regions and population groups.
Vietnam has also just surpassed the 100 million population mark; has bucked global trends in reducing maternal mortality over the past 30 years and has high rates of modern contraceptive use in the world.
The population growth rate has been successfully controlled, reaching the replacement level since 2006 and has continued to be maintained around the replacement level until now. The population structure has shifted positively. The working-age population has increased sharply. Since 2007, our country has entered the golden population period. The quality of the population has improved in many aspects.
Average life expectancy has increased rapidly, higher than many countries with the same per capita income. Malnutrition and maternal and child mortality have decreased sharply. The stature and physical strength of Vietnamese people have improved. The population has been distributed more reasonably, linked to the urbanization, industrialization and socio-economic development requirements, ensuring national defense and security.
Since 2017, with the issuance of Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW of the Central Executive Committee, Vietnam's population work has shifted the focus of population policy from family planning to population and development. Population work focuses on all aspects of population size, structure, distribution, especially population quality, and places it in an organic relationship with socio-economic, defense, and security factors to ensure rapid and sustainable development.
Along with the whole country, over the past 30 years, Phu Tho province's population work has undergone many changes, always making efforts and achieving many important results. From a province with a high population growth rate in the North, the average annual population growth rate in the period 2009-2019 was 1.06% (Northern midlands and mountainous areas: 1.26%, the whole country: 1.14%). The average number of children per woman has decreased and remained above 2 children throughout the province.
The success of population work has greatly changed the size, structure and quality of the population in a direction favorable to development. The population structure has changed positively, the number and proportion of dependent population has decreased, the working-age population has increased sharply. The proportion of children under 15 years old has decreased to 25%; the proportion of people aged 15-64 years old has remained above 65%, Phu Tho has entered the golden population period since 2007.
The labor structure has shifted in a positive direction. The proportion of workers in the industrial and service sectors increased from 20.1% to 53.1%; agricultural workers decreased from 79.9% to 46.9%. Population quality has improved, the human development index (HDI) has reached the national average. The rate of malnutrition and child mortality is lower than the national average. To date, over 60% of pregnant mothers and newborns have been screened, diagnosed, and given early intervention for a number of diseases and disabilities.
The physical stature of the people in the province has improved. The average life expectancy has increased to the national average. Population distribution is associated with urbanization and industrialization to meet labor needs and resolve the imbalance between labor and employment. The urban population rate has increased to meet the human resource needs of socio-economic development, especially the labor needs in industrial parks and industrial clusters.
Population propaganda, education and services have been widely and regularly deployed at all levels, sectors, agencies, socio-political organizations, organizations, communities, families and couples. The practical and vivid propaganda content has spread the message "Each couple has only 1-2 children" to spread and permeate the whole society.
The population service network has been developed widely, close to the people; the quality is increasingly high. The method of providing family planning services has been fundamentally changed from district-level public health facilities to commune health stations and private health facilities. Phu Tho is the pioneer province among the Northern Midlands and Mountains provinces to successfully deploy assisted reproductive technology.
Distributing leaflets on reproductive health/family planning in an integrated communication campaign to provide services to high birth rate and disadvantaged areas in Tan Minh commune, Thanh Son district.
In 30 years, thanks to reducing births and maintaining a low birth rate, the province has avoided births of over 150,000 people, larger than the average population of a district in the province. This has significantly saved costs for families and society. For a province that has not yet balanced its budget like Phu Tho, this is even more important to increase investment in socio-economic development.
The results of implementing population targets have directly contributed to the successful implementation of local socio-economic targets. In the period 2001-2010, GDP per capita increased 2.66 times; in the period 2011-2020, GDP in 2020 increased nearly 2 times (comparable prices) and nearly 4 times (current prices) compared to 2011.
If population work is not effectively implemented, the province's population will increase by more than 150,000 people and GDP per capita will increase lower than in the past decades. Nowadays, thanks to having fewer children, women have the conditions to improve their health and participate in social work.
The results of the population censuses show that the family size (average number of people per family) is getting smaller, helping families save money and increase savings. Population work has really contributed greatly to economic growth, social progress and environmental sustainability; at the same time, improving the quality of life of each person, each family and the whole society.
Besides opportunities and advantages, the province's population work also faces many difficulties and challenges. Phu Tho is a province with a large population (ranked 21/63 provinces and cities), high population density: 435 people/km2 (nationwide: 321 people/ km2 ), and the birth rate is still high. The number of women entering childbearing age in the province will continue to increase in the coming years, which will directly impact and put pressure on the province's birth reduction goal. The mentality of wanting to have many children, preferring sons, and gender prejudices are still deep.
The rapid growth rate of the working-age population will be an important resource for economic development if well utilized; on the contrary, it will become a burden, easily causing social evils if not utilized. The golden population of our province has only met the criteria in terms of quantity; the quality of human resources is still very limited; there is no synchronous solution to promote the advantage of the golden population.
The population is aging rapidly while socio-economic conditions are not well prepared to adapt. Most of the elderly live in rural areas, their material life is still difficult, the social protection and security system has not met the requirements. The health care network for the elderly is not yet developed. Gender imbalance at birth is increasingly widespread, both in urban and rural areas, although the gender imbalance ratio at birth has decreased, it is still quite high. Without drastic intervention measures, it will cause many consequences for sustainable development.
Migration affects the size and structure of the population and causes difficulties for both the places of origin and destination. Infrastructure and social policies in many urban areas and industrial zones have not kept pace with the mechanical population growth rate. Migrants' access to basic social services is still limited.
Implementing Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 of the 12th Party Central Committee on population work in the new situation, Phu Tho Provincial Party Committee issued Plan No. 47-KH/TU dated December 22, 2017 to implement Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW; The Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 2516/KH-UBND dated June 12, 2020 on the action plan for the 2020-2025 period of Phu Tho province to implement the Vietnam Population Strategy to 2030, which has oriented the shift in the focus of population policy from population-family planning to population and development: Comprehensively and synchronously solving issues of population size, structure, distribution, quality and placing them in a reciprocal relationship with the province's socio-economic development.
Continue efforts to reduce the birth rate, move towards achieving replacement level birth rate, improve population quality, improve reproductive health, bring the sex ratio at birth closer to natural balance, effectively utilize the golden population structure, adapt to population aging; distribute the population reasonably, contributing to the rapid and sustainable socio-economic development of the province.
Nguyen Viet Phuong
Head of the Department of Population/Family Planning
Source: https://baophutho.vn/30-nam-thuc-hien-cac-muc-tieu-dan-so-va-phat-trien-215161.htm
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