14th National Party Congress: Creating a foundation for the goal of improving population quality

An important milestone in population work is the Population Law passed by the 15th National Assembly, consisting of 8 chapters and 30 articles, effective from July 1, 2026.

Vietnam's population will reach 102.3 million people (in 2025), continuing to increase but the natural growth rate tends to slow down. Along with clear fluctuations in birth rate, population aging, age structure and population distribution, the picture of Vietnam's population is entering an important transition period.

In the context of the entire Party and people moving towards the 14th National Party Congress, looking back at the achievements of population work in recent times is an important basis to determine the direction and tasks for the new development stage.

Population size is controlled, population quality is gradually improved

2025 is considered one of the pivotal years of the population sector, just completing the cycle of implementing tasks according to the Vietnam Population Strategy, and opening the stage of implementing a new policy system with the advent of the Population Law.

The population picture in 2025 is therefore " Lutic": both reflecting the operational efficiency of previous years and clearly showing the issues that need to be addressed in the coming time.

According to the Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance), Vietnam's average population in 2025 will reach 102.3 million people, an increase of about 1 million people compared to 2024. The gender structure of the entire population is basically stable, with 51 million men (49.9%) and 51.3 million women (50.1%). The population of urban areas is 39.5 million people, accounting for 38.6%; rural areas are 62.9 million people, accounting for 61.4%.

The total birth rate (TFR) in 2025 will reach 1.93 children/woman, a slight increase compared to 2024 but is still in a long-term downtrend from 2020 to present. The proportion of the young population (0-14 years old) continues to decrease from 23.5% to 22.8%, clearly reflecting the trend of decreased birth and the slowing rate of population regeneration.

Along with that, population health indicators remained at a positive level, the neonatal mortality rate decreased slightly to 11.2%; the average life expectancy reached 74.7 years, equivalent to 2024.

In 2025, the rate of elderly people receiving periodic health check-ups will reach 70%, an increase of 6.6% compared to 2024; nearly 46,000 volunteers participating in caring for the elderly in the community; more than 12,300 elderly clubs maintain regular activities. These results show that the quality of health care, living conditions and awareness of people continue to improve.

The reproductive health care network continues to be maintained and expanded. Nearly 500,000 pregnant women are screened before giving birth (6,59%), more than 422,000 newborns are screened at birth (58%).

The system of 1,398 heel blood collection facilities and 160 testing facilities operate stably, helping to detect many congenital diseases early, reducing the medical burden later.

One of the outstanding achievements of population work in recent times is that Vietnam continues to maintain the "golden population" structure.

The working-age population (15-59 years old) accounts for about 62.7% of the total population in 2025. This is an important resource for economic growth, labor restructuring, industrial, service and knowledge-based economic development.

However, along with the golden population structure, the aging process is happening rapidly. The proportion of the population aged 60 and over will increase from 14% in 2024 to 14.5% in 2025.

This shows that Vietnam is rapidly moving towards an aging population, posing an urgent need to prepare a social security system, long-term health care and adapt to policies in the coming time.

Communication and population education work has been widely deployed, contributing to changing social behavior and awareness. The family model of few children, focusing on quality of life, reproductive health care, enhancing the role of women and gender equality is increasingly affirmed.

In 2025, the Department of Population will deploy a population data warehouse in 3,321 communes/wards, testing the MIS system on a web platform in Quang Ninh province and Hai Phong city.

Data comparison and appraisal work has been strengthened to standardize and create a premise for connecting population data according to the requirements of the Population Law. Digital transformation among the population is an important stage to improve demographic analysis and forecasting capacity. This is considered a particularly important factor in the long-term policy making period.

These changes not only help control population size but also create a foundation for the goal of improving population quality, a core element of sustainable development in the new period.

Developing policies to meet the country's development requirements

An important milestone in population work is the Population Law passed by the 15th National Assembly on December 10, 2025, consisting of 8 chapters and 30 articles, effective from July 1, 2026.

This is the first law to comprehensively build population, demonstrating a strong transition from the mindset of "family planning" to "population and development".

Along with that, many important documents were issued such as the Ordinance amending the Population Ordinance, Conclusion of the Politburo on continuing to implement Resolution 21-NQ/TW, circulars guiding the decentralization of population management and national target programs on health care, population and development for the period 2026-2035.

The Population Law fully covers the contents of population size, structure, distribution, and quality; adaptation to aging; reducing gender imbalance at birth; building a population data system; determining the rights and obligations of individuals and agencies and organizations in population work.

The promulgation of the Law creates an important legal basis for effective management of population fluctuations in the new development stage of the country.

Entering the coming period, population work faces many major challenges: long-term decline in birth rate, rapid population aging, gender imbalance at birth that is not sustainablely controlled, the golden population structure is gradually narrowing. These issues have a direct impact on growth, human resources and social security, requiring strong innovation in thinking and policy.

The consistent direction of population work in the coming time is to continue to thoroughly grasp the spirit of the Population Law: considering the population as a strategic component of development.

Population policies need to be closely integrated with planning, socio-economic development, urbanization, education, healthcare, labor market and digital transformation. This comprehensive approach helps Vietnam proactively adapt to rapid and complex demographic changes in the coming decade.

In the context of a prolonged decline in birth rates, the Population Law has legalized many support policies to maintain a reasonable birth rate. Specifically, female workers with second children are entitled to 7 months of maternity leave; male workers are entitled to 10 days off when their wives give birth; financial support for women who give birth to two children before the age of 35, very few ethnic minority women, women in the locality with low birth rate; priority is given to accessing social housing for families with two or more children.

The synchronous implementation of these policies aims to reduce cost pressure, create a favorable environment for families to have enough children with peace of mind, thereby ensuring a long-term balance of human resources.

Rapid population aging requires early and methodical preparation. The Population Law requires encouragement for people to prepare for health, finances, and psychology before retirement; expand coverage of social insurance and health insurance;

Develop a system of elderly care in the community; build a living environment, urban areas and friendly services for the elderly. The goal is to " proactively age", ensuring that the elderly live well, live usefully, and reduce the burden on their families and society.

The sex ratio at birth in 2025 at 110 boys/100 girls is still a big challenge. The Population Law stipulates the strict prohibition of the choice of fetal gender in any form; the prohibition of notification and disclosure of fetal gender, except in cases of diagnosis and treatment; encourage the inclusion of male-led substances that are not more important than female in the village register and community conventions.

Reducing gender imbalances at birth requires the synchronous participation of the entire political system and the whole society, in order to ensure social stability in the medium and long term.

In the new development stage, improving population quality is considered a continuous task. Population work needs to be associated with maternal and child health care; improving the physical strength, stature, and intelligence of Vietnamese people; expanding reproductive health care services for adolescents and young people; applying technology in population management and connecting population data with health, education, and social security.

Improved population quality will directly contribute to improving labor productivity, national competitiveness and growth quality.

In the context of rapid demographic transformation, with strong changes in institutions, organizational structure, methods of implementation and policy orientation, the population sector enters a new phase with an increasingly important role in ensuring human resources, improving the quality of life and consolidating the foundation of social security for the country.

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