Mr Trong who is an Acting General Director of the General Department of Population and Family Planning, said that population quality issues are essential to developing human resources for national modernisation and industrialisation. Although the country has succeeded in reducing the number of new births and curbing population growth, the quality of Vietnam’s population has not stabilized. 

According to the statistics by the General Department, the rate of mental and physical insufficiency in the population is 1.5 percent. The number of children suffering congenital deformities accounts for 1.5 - 3 percent, and the figure is likely to increase. Meanwhile, 6.3 percent of the population is categorized as disabled.

The average lifespan of Vietnamese rose to 72.2 years in 2005, from 68.5 years in 2000. However, when it comes to the population quality, Vietnam still ranks 116^th among 174 countries and territories in the world, with its average estimated at 60.2 years old. 

The physical strength of Vietnamese remains a limitation as compared with other regional countries—the population still lags in terms of height, weight and physical endurance. The rate of malnutrition for children under five is still high in remote areas.

Mr Trong said that in the coming time, it is necessary to carry out simultaneously measures, including research and testing on the early treatment of diseases related to congenital malformation, and pre-marriage health check-ups. 

In a bid to improve the population quality, the Central Obstetrics Hospital has deployed a programme on prenatal screening in 12 northern provinces to cut the rate of children with congenital deformities to below 1.5 percent by 2020.