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Vietnam's population forecast to reach 100 million by 2025

By VnExpress January 4, 2017 | 02:09 am PT

Children dressed as Santa Claus stand in front of a replica of the Bethlehem nativity grotto at the St. Joseph Cathedral in Hanoi, Vietnam December 21, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Kham

While population growth has slowed, the country is grappling with a slew of problems, including gender imbalance and an aging workforce.

In 2025, the population of Vietnam will reach 100 million, an increase of 5.8 percent from 2016, the Voice of Vietnam reported, citing a recent forecast by the Institute of Public Policy and Management.

Vietnam has managed to bring its annual population growth down to 1.07 percent last year. Its current population is around 92 million.

While a slow pace of population growth may take some of the pressure off the country's resources, Vietnam's economy is facing another problem: a rapidly aging workforce.

“To boost gross domestic product per capita, we have to aim for higher labor productivity,” said associate professor Giang Thanh Long, the director of the public policy institute.

Also according to the institute, Vietnam’s urban population will continue to expand at one of the highest rates in Southeast Asia.

Just 15 years ago, only 24.6 percent of its population lived in cities, with nearly 70 percent of the labor force in rural agriculture. Today, about 32 million people live in urban areas, accounting for approximately 34.1 percent of the population.

Vietnam is also faced with a huge gender imbalance, which in the longer term means between 2.3 and 4.3 million could have difficulties finding a female partner by 2050, according to population experts.

The ratio has been on a steady rise in recent years, running as high as 112 boys to 100 girls in 2015. In the countryside, the ratio can run much higher. Globally, the sex ratio at birth is estimated at 107 boys to 100 girls.

> Gender imbalance threatens Vietnam's social stability: experts