Vietnam is expected to welcome its 100 millionth citizen by mid-April and is preparing to mark the event with a publicity campaign to promote the positive impact of population growth on the economy, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Newborn baby cares at the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Hanoi. Photo: Duong Ngoc

According to the GSO, Vietnam will officially become one of the 15 countries in the world and the third in Southeast Asia with a population of 100 million, of which about 68 million are of working age.

"In the face of increasing global economic competition, every country seeks to gain competitive advantage through human resources. Vietnam sees the birth of its 100 millionth citizen as a proud milestone, as the size of the population not only offers good opportunities for the country's social and economic development but also poses the challenge of an aging population in the future," the agency stressed.

According to a report by the GSO, Vietnam's population reached 99.2 million in April 2022. The nation has entered a period of demographic dividend (as the proportion of the working population doubles the dependent population) since 2007. The period is expected to last until 2034.

The United Nations Fund for Population Activities praised Vietnam's rapidly declining fertility rate, which has reached and maintained replacement fertility (2.1 children per woman) since 2006. "The number of children a Vietnamese woman has in her lifetime was between six and seven until the early 1960s. It dropped to 4.8 in 1979," the organization said.