Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue delivered a opening speech at the Conference
In the morning, July 11, 2019, an online conference to announce preliminary results of the 2019 population and housing census of Vietnam (hereafter called the 2019 Census) was held in Hanoi. Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, Politburo Member, Head of the Central Steering Committee for the Population and Housing Census chaired the Conference. Co-chairmen were Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment, Deputy Standing Head of the Central Steering Committee for the 2019 Census and Mr. Nguyen Bich Lam, Director General of General Statistics Office (GSO), Deputy Head of the Central Steering Committee for the 2019 Census. Attended were representatives from related ministries, line-ministries, agencies, representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam, international organizations, researching institutes, experts in population and demography, press agencies and 63 television bridgeheads of 63 provinces and cities.
Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment had a brief presentation on the process of organization and implementation of the 2019 Census
The Census was conducted from April 1 to 25, 2019 using mainly electronic questionnaires installed on mobile devices (Computer-assisted personal interviewing – an interviewing method). Data cleaning and processing took place over the following two months, a full year earlier than the data processing required for the 2009 Census thanks to the application of information technology in all stages of the Census for the first time. The preliminary data of the Census was published after only over two months since the completion of the enumeration. Accordingly, the total population of Vietnam as of the time-point 00:00 on April 1, 2019 was 96,208,984 persons, of which the male population was 47,881,061 persons (accounting for 49.8%) and the female population was 48,327,923 persons (about 50.2%). Vietnam’s population has increased by 10.4 million persons since 2009.
In his opening speech of the Conference, Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that the 2019 Census took place successfully and its preliminary results was announced on a meaning day, World Population Day (July 11) and its official data was expected to be made public on December 20, 2019, Vietnam’s Population Day. He added that with the approach of information technology like in this Census, it was possible to update data every year and the organization of the Census every 10 years may not be needed anymore, thus helping to save time and costs.
Mr. Nguyen Bich Lam, Director General of GSO presented a report on preliminary results of the 2019 Census
Vietnam is experiencing a golden population structure, according to Mr. Hue, it is necessary to make timely policies to take the advantage of this population structure to avoid “getting old before getting rich” and care more about low-income people with the goal “No one is left behind”.
The Conference also spent time for participants to engage in discussion to learn from experiences and give recommendations for the next steps in order to fully complete the Census as planned and make a report on official results in December this year.