Vietnam urged to upgrade population data

Vietnam, despite progress achieved in collecting information and data, now needs to focus on improving disaggregated data on population, especially ethnicity and age which offer important evidence for policymakers to address challenges related to inequalities.

Matt Jackson, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative in Vietnam.

Matt Jackson, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative in Vietnam, shared the view with The Hanoi Times in talking about the role of building on data in policymaking for socio-economic development.

Accordingly, the requirement is set for the utilization of administrative data such as civil registration and vital statistics and further in-depth population analysis drawing on different data sources such as population surveys, informal data, and big data will help to provide a better understanding of the factors that affect population changes.

Data sharing among Government ministries and agencies, localities, and non-government partners is also key yet there remains a lack of rules and common practices on data sharing and exchange.

To narrow these gaps, the General Statistics Office and other ministries and agencies have established and strengthened national population databases. These include, among others, the national population database managed by the Ministry of Public Security and the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics system managed by the Ministry of Justice.

“These databases still need time to fully mature not least as many national sustainable development indicators still rely on data collected by different types of population surveys. As a result, Vietnam needs to continue to conduct population surveys to improve its databases and provide timely data for evidence-based policymaking,” Mr. Jackson said.

Role of census and surveys

Population and Housing Censuses and surveys provide an excellent opportunity to explore digital transformation and innovation for data technologies and communication platforms as this helps to speed up data generation processes and minimize human errors, he added.

Vietnam aims to build a centralized and unified national statistical database system, linking all existing statistical database systems, especially from administrative data sources.

According to Mr. Jackson, a recent example of in-depth, thematic analysis is the General Statistics Office’s work, with technical and financial support from UNFPA, on Vietnam's National Transfer Account (NTA) report, a reliable source of international reference data when talking about Vietnam at the global level, published in December last year.

This is a comprehensive and systematic method used to analyze the economic life cycle of population ageing. The findings of the NTA research help to identify the status of human resources as well as the level of government’s investment, thereby providing information for national macro policy planning.

Any Development Plan or Strategy must be based on quality population data. High-economy countries often use comprehensive, inter-connected data systems that are accessible to citizens, businesses, civil society, Government ministries, and Parliament. In addition, data transparency contributes to developing strategic policies and programs, enhancing management capacity, improving service quality, and maximizing all resources for socio-economic development. 

Children are given special care and are part of the population census. Photo: Luu Minh Phung

UNFPA-supported data building over past decades

The Intercensal Population and Housing Survey on April 1, 2024, marked UNFPA’s latest support for Vietnam’s statistical work.

Mr. Jackson argued that Vietnam has the 15th largest population in the world with over 100 million people, successful population and housing censuses in recent years demonstrate the very high technical and organizational capacity of the General Statistics Office from national to local levels.

He said preparations for the Intercensal Population and Housing Survey have included pre-testing the survey’s methods, developing inventory diagrams, and pre-testing questionnaires with small groups. The survey will apply Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews, which were initially used when conducting the 2019 Population and Housing Census. Our hope is that the findings of the 2024 survey will be published later this year.

The Intercensal Population and Housing Survey plays a significant role in Vietnam’s rapid socio-economic growth. Reliable and quality statistics are needed to formulate, implement, monitor, and assess Vietnam’s progress in achieving its socio-economic ambitions and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets to ensure we leave no one behind.

In particular, the survey is expected to support updated evidence on at least 20 important national SDG indicators. This includes the reproductive history of women, education, death, migration, imbalance of sex ratio at birth, disability, marriage including child marriage and customary marriage, education, labor forces, and housing, which are not currently available in other population databases. The survey will also help to update national population projections for 2069, including population aging.

“I hope that this survey will also help the General Statistics Office to draw lessons learned about data and statistical collection, including how best to maximize technologies for conducting population surveys in the future as well as how to enhance data sharing and use among related stakeholders,” Mr. Jackson stated.

He believed that with GSO’s solid experience in running large-scale surveys, he believed that the survey would be conducted in a smooth manner, ensuring the confidentiality of all information collected.

Mr. Jackson expressed his delight in future cooperation in which UNFPA remains committed to supporting Vietnam and the General Statistics Office with their ambition for better quality data. “Our support will also focus on enhancing the capacity of Vietnam's data and statistics experts through sharing best practices and exchanges with leading experts around the world,” he emphasized.