With a population of over 90 million and a high rate of young people, it has been suggested that Vietnam invest more in the young generations as it is the 14th most populous country in the world and the third in Southeast Asia.
The information was announced on July 11 during a meeting on the occasion of World Population Day, in Nha Trang City. About 1,000 people, representatives from the Ministry of Health, United Nations Population Fund in Vietnam and the General Office for Population Family Planning attended the meeting.
According to the report, 1.8 billion people in the world are between the ages of 10 and 24, accounting for a quarter of the world's population. The number of working-age people in Asia is higher than the world average, and Vietnam has also started to go into a 'golden population' period.
40% of Vietnam's population are of working age. However, if Vietnam does not make the right investments to develop the labour market, it could miss out on its 'golden population' period. Currently, Vietnam still does not have a highly skilled workforce that can meet the demands of employers in the modern marketplace. Most of the workforce are not highly trained.
Many experts have said that Vietnam needs specific plans for education reform, including attracting foreign investments for vocational training. State agencies and educational facilities must to cooperate to have a balanced supply and demand in the human resources market, according to the report.
Is is also forecast that in 2014, Vietnam's workforce will reach 54.87 million people.