VIETNAM'S POPULATION, POPULATION DISTRIBUTION
AND LABOUR ISSUES.
1. Features of the population distribution
Vietnam is a multi-nations country which homes to 54 different nations. Among them, the Viet nation (often called as the Kinh nation) comprises 86.83 per cent of the total population. Two largest ethnics are Tay and Thai who share two per cent of the population.
One of basic features of the Vietnamese is the community-consciousness with three principles: Family-Commune- Fatherland and humane ideology.
Vietnam is a country whose culture is of long-standing, full of national colour and diversity.
Thanks to the community-consciousness and based on the charity ground, the Vietnamese can always keep their patriotic tradition, solidarity, econo-culture exchange and integration abilities. However, in certain situations, from the accessive community character arise the egalitarianism, competition restriction, localised ideology, endurement behaviour and the patriarchal and domineering treatment, which stunt the development and obstruct the progress of organisation a civilised society.
2. Population, labour and employment issues
Vietnam is one of the countries that have a rapid population growth. The necessary time to double the population has reduced: it takes 35 years to double the population from 17.6 million to 34.9 million; 30 years to increase from 20 million to 40 million; 26 years to increase from 30.2 million to 61.1 million and so on. The annual average growth rate of the Vietnam's population is 2.23 per cent. So far, Vietnam ranks second in the South-East Asia, seventh in the Asia-Pacific region and 12th in the world list with regard to the population number. By 1995, the Vietnam's population was nearly 74 million people (Table 6).
Table 6. Average population distribution in sex and rural, urban areas
Thousand people
|
Total |
In sex |
In urban, rural areas |
|||
|
|
Male |
Female |
Urban |
Rural |
|
1960 1965 1970 1976 1979 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989* 1990* 1991* 1992* 1993* 1994* 1995* |
30,172 34,929 41,063 49,160 52,462 59,872 61,109 62,452 63,727 64,774 66,233 67,774 69,450.2 71,025.6 72,509.5 73,959.0 |
14,770 16,987 20,038 23,597 25,444 29,285 29,912 30,611 31,450 31,589 32,327 32,994 33,813.9 34,670.8 35,386.4 36,092.0 |
15,402 17,942 21,025 25,563 27,018 30,587 31,197 31,841 32,277 33,185 33,906 34,780 35,591.3 36,354.8 37,123.1 37,867.0 |
4,527 6,008 8,787 10,127 10,094 11,360 11,817 12,271 12,662 12,919 13,281 13,619 13,285 13,663 14,193.3 14,947.0 |
25,645 28,921 32,276 39,033 42,368 48,512 49,292 50,181 51,065 50,810 51,908 53,111 55,075 56,317.8 57,325.5 57,969.0 |
|
Source: General Department of Statistics
Note: * includes resident population only
During the passing years, despite achievement gained by the Vietnam's birth control program, the population growth rate still stood at 2 per cent in 1995.
The distribution of Vietnam's population is uneven. Plain regions account for only on fourth of the country's total natural area but they are occupied by three quarters of the country's population. These ratios are vice versa in mountainous and highland regions. Urban residents account for 20 per cent of the total while the rest are rural people (Table 7).
Table 7. Structure of average population distribution in sex and in rural, urban areas
Thousand people
|
In sex |
In urban, rural areas |
||
|
Male |
Female |
Urban |
Rural |
1960 1965 1970 1976 1979 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989* 1990* 1991* 1992* 1993* 1994* 1995* |
49.0 48.6 48.7 48.0 48.5 48.9 49.0 49.0 49.4 48.8 48.8 48.7 48.7 48.8 48.8 48.8 |
51.0 51.4 51.3 52.0 51.5 51.1 51.0 51.0 50.6 51.2 51.2 51.3 51.3 51.2 51.2 51.2 |
15.0 17.2 21.4 20.6 19.2 19.0 19.3 19.6 19.9 20.3 20.4 20.4 19.4 19.5 19.9 20.5 |
85.0 82.8 78.6 79.4 80.8 81.0 80.7 80.4 80.1 79.7 79.6 79.6 80.6 80.5 80.1 79.5 |
Source: General Department of Statistics
* see note in table 6
Vietnam is a country whose population is young, so the portion of being-in-working-ages people and the ratio of literate persons are high. The number of being-in-working-ages ones comprises more than 50 per cent and the ratio of more than 10 year-old people who are literate is 87.7 per cent. Because of the young character, the growth rate of the labour force is often higher than that of the population (Table 8). It is estimated that by 2000, Vietnam will have a labour force of about 50 million.
Table 8. Population and labour force growth rates during 1969-1990
Period |
Population growth rate (%) |
Labour force growth rate (%) |
1960-1975 1975-1980 1980-1985 1985-1990 |
3.05 2.45 2.35 2.05 |
3.20 3.37 3.26 3.35 |
Source: The General Department of Statistics
The distribution of the labour force in economic branches and sectors are as follows (Tables 9 and 10).
Table 9. Employees working in economic branches up to July 1 annually
Unit: thousand people
A |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
Total Industry Construction Agriculture Forestry Transport Post and telecommunication Trade, material supply Other material productions Housing, public services and tourism Science Education and training Culture and art Health care, social insurance, sport Banking, finance and insurance State management Other non-material productions |
30,286.0 3,392.0 817.7 21,683.1 205.9 475.5 35.0 1,680.9 30.3 294.8 52.5 802.6 45.4 302.9 91.2 239.9 136.3 |
30,974.0 3,394.0 820.0 22,275.6 207.0 480.1 46.4 1,719.0 30.3 295.8 48.6 804.3 46.4 309.7 117.8 240.0 139.0 |
31,815.2 3,450.0 825.0 22,998.3 210.0 483.6 47.0 1,735.0 30.2 301.2 48.3 825.2 46.0 318.1 114.2 240.0 143.1 |
32,718.0 3,521.8 843.3 23,683.8 214.4 496.1 53.1 1,776.0 30.6 322.0 48.1 848.0 46.1 326.6 117.3 240.0 145.8 |
33,663.9 3,603.7 971.5 24,309.9 200.6 510.4 54.6 1,827.3 31.5 331.3 49.5 872.6 47.4 336.0 120.7 246.9 150.0 |
Source: General Department of Statistics
Table 10. Emloyees working in economic branches up to July 1 by sectors
Unit: thousand people
|
Total |
Devided in |
|
|
|
State sector |
Private sector |
Total Agro-forestry Fishery Mining industry Manufacturing industry Electricity, gas and water supply Construction Trade and households goods repair Hotels and restaurants Transport, storage and communication Finance and credit Scientific and technology activities Activities related to properties and consulting services State management, security and defence, compulsory social security Training and education Health care and social welfare Culture and sport Activities of party, unions and associations Individuals and public supports Others |
33,663.9 23,560.4 570.1 115.5 3,116.3 148.4 971.5 2,207.1 170.5 554.7 118.9 41.3 54.3 197.3 899.8 348.5 105.4 76.3 342.8 64.8 |
2,954.2 296.0 8.3 69.7 613.7 46.6 282.0 207.5 27.5 185.1 69.7 30.1 24.1 164.2 674.7 155.0 30.2 54.6 15.2 - |
30,709.7 23,264.4 561.8 45.8 2,502.6 101.8 689.5 1,999.6 143.0 369.6 49.2 11.2 30.2 33.1 225.1 193.5 75.2 21.7 327.6 64.8 |
Source: General Department of Statistics
The rapid growth and the young character of the population are two elements that cause difficulties and complications tho the economic development and the arrangement of social issues as well as the settlement of unemployment and job-lacking problems.
However, thanks to the high intellectual standard of the people, the awareness of Vietnamese people is relatively quick and flexible. So it does not take much time in vocational training. The high fitting ability of labours positively affects on the economic renovation as well as the labour cooperation and allocation and the ability of international modern know-how absorbance.
National Institute of Labour Protection of Vietnam-CIS/ILO Collaborating Center
Address: No 1. Yet Kieu Tel:8.257293 - 8.257028 Fax:(84.4) 8.246752 Email: NILP@Netnam.org.vn