VietNamNet Bridge - With nearly 89 million people, Vietnam has become the 13th most populous country in the world and 3rd in Southeast Asia.

The information was released by Deputy Minister of Health – Mr. Nguyen Viet Tien - at the conference reviewing 10-year implementation of the Population Ordinance, which took place on Tuesday in Hanoi.

According to Tien, although the growth rate decreased (an increase of one million annually) in recent years, the population density was quite large, up to 267 people per one square kilometer, adding Vietnam to the group of countries with the world's highest population density.

In addition, the gender imbalance at birth is still a big issue. Hung Yen province in northern Vietnam has the highest gender imbalance ratio at birth of 130.7 boys/100 girls. The desire to have a son to “worship the ancestors and take care of the" is still quite common in Vietnamese families.

According to Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu, from the Institute of Population and Social Affairs, the percentage of pregnant women who know ahead of the sex of the fetus in 2012 increased to more than 81 percent. The Population Ordinance bans prenatal sex selection but the ratio of gender imbalance at birth increased steadily. Thus, the violation of the regulations on gender issues was quite popular.

Besides, Vietnam is in the golden age of population but the quality of human resources, the quality of the population is limited. The rate of people who can read and write high is high but the training level is low. Less than 15 percent of the population (aged 15 and over) are technically trained.

Hence, the Ministry of Health has established the Population Law Drafting Committee to amend a number of issues, such as donation, selling of sperm, eggs, embryos, surrogate pregnancy, consultancy services of sex selection at birth, sex selection, etc.

According to Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu, the Population Law should be adjusted in the direction of tightening the regulations on abortion, the conditions for abortion.

Le Ha