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What to Know about Vietnam Population

The country's population is growing year by year, projected to hit its peak in 2054.


What to Know about Vietnam Population

Photo: Tuyen Giao

Given Vietnam’s turbulent history, the country is making great strides in population growth. Currently, Vietnam’s population is 97.3 million people, a number expected to hit 100 million by the end of 2024. Vietnam’s population is projected to hit its peak of 109.78 million people in 2054.

Vietnam’s population is increasing by about 1% each year, adding about 1 million people per year. Despite this, the annual population growth rate is decreasing each year and eventually, the population will begin decreasing after 2055.

Vietnam’s fertility rate in 1980 was 5 births per woman, which has decreased to 2.0 births per woman. This is the result of the government’s “two-child policy” that limits births by issuing contraception, fining couples that have more than two children, and prohibiting them from moving to urban centers.

Vietnam Population Growth

According to World Population Review, further consistent growth followed, even through the long years of the Vietnam War which you may have been assumed to have a negative sort of impact on the population of Vietnam. In fact, growth continued at a similar level throughout the second half of the 1900’s and has continued further to the point where the Vietnam population of 2014 stands at just short of 93 million.

From the years 1955 to 1990, Vietnam enjoyed positive yearly population changes of over 2% - even as much as 3% in some years. However, since that time, the increasing percentage has fallen to just below a full 1%.

Vietnam Population Projections

The growth Vietnam has seen in the recent past is expected to continue, however, at an increasingly slower rate. By 2035, the population will be growing half as quickly as it is today. It is projected that the Vietnam population will break 100 million by 2022.

The current population of Vietnam is 98,200,473 based on projections of the latest United Nations data. The UN estimates the July 1, 2021 population at 98,168,833.



Vietnam population projection between 1960 and 2080. Line graph: World Population Review

Vietnam Area and Population Density

In comparison, Vietnam has a small surface area, and at 331,210 square kilometers (128,565 square miles), this is only the world’s 65th largest in terms of landmass alone. Those two sets of figures would suggest a densely populated landscape and that is the case to an extent. For every square kilometer of land, there is an average of 291.33 people. That number converts to 112.5 individuals per square mile and overall, this becomes the 46th most densely populated country on earth.



Graphics: World Population Review

Chart: World Population Review

Largest Cities in Vietnam

Vietnam has 5 cities with populations over one million, the largest of which is Ho Chi Minh City with a population of 8,636,899. The city of Ha Noi is a close second with 7,781,631 people residing there. The remaining 3 cities with substantial populations are Hai Phong, Da Nang, and Can Tho.

Vietnam's life expectancy, infant mortality



Graph: WorldOMeter

Graph: WorldOMeter
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Jasmine Le

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