Social issues 1

Population:
Viet Nam’s present population is around 80 million, about 87% of which is the majority ‘Kinh‘ group mostly living in vùng thấp, and the remaining 13% in fifty-three different các dân tộc thiểu số living mainly in vùng núi.

A sự bùng nổ dân số after the end of the war allowed Viet Nam’s population to tăn
g nhanh. Increasing population mật độ, pressure on ageing cơ sở hạ tầng and worsening environmental damage prompted a policy of applying disincentives to families with more than two children. Population growth is slowing, but the previous high rate has left a very young population (65% are under 25) with consequent serious sự căng thẳng on the education system and thị trường lao đông.

Poverty:
Nearly three-quarters of Vietnam’s population were living in poverty in the mid-1980s. In the early nineties, the government committed itself to a chiến lược mang tính hệ thống to improve the tình hình: it has been remarkably successful. The 2003 United Nations 'Human Development Report' records that poverty is now under 29% and dropping rapidly, one of the sharpest declines in any other country on record.

Nevertheless, poverty is still common in rural areas, and increasing urban affluence kích thích migration from poor các tỉnh nông thôn into the cities adding to the social problems there. Wages for low-skill jobs are tối thiểu and sự thất nghiệp is high and đang tăng as the country progressively hội nhập to the world market economy.