Nguyễn Trung Tiến, deputy director general of the General Statistics Office.

Nguyễn Trung Tiến, deputy director general of the General Statistics Office and vice chairman of the Central Working Committee on mid-term 2024 Population and Housing Census, talks to Vietnam News Agency about the importance of the mid-term 2024 population and housing census.

What are the differences between the information from the national population database and the information from the mid-term 2024 population and housing census?

The mid-term 2024 population census aims specifically to collect information about individuals in the actual socio-economic life of a geographical area according to criteria specified and applied worldwide. These criteria are not entirely consistent with the regulations of the national population database.

To determine whether a person will be counted in the population of a certain administrative area, the population census relies on the concept of "de facto usual residence population", referring to individuals, who have lived stably in the area for at least six months or less than six months but intend to settle long-term in the area, regardless of whether they have the necessary residency documents such as household registration book or temporary residence registration.

To be recorded in the population database of a locality in the national population database, citizens must complete registration procedures for household registration, temporary residence registration as required. If for any reason, citizens have not completed the procedures as required, they will not be counted as part of the population of the locality they are actually residing in.

In addition to collecting information about the population, the population census also gathers information about the housing of households along with some other important statistical indicators to assess the quality of life of the population, such as the rate of children under five years old not registered at birth, educational attainment of the population, literacy rate of ethnic minorities, net migration rate of the population, birth rate, death rate and housing characteristics of households. These statistical indicators cannot currently be calculated from the national population database.

In reality, the characteristics of each individual are greatly influenced by the characteristics of the household, the people living together in the household and their living conditions. Many studies, analyses and policies mostly have to rely on households, but information about households and household characteristics is not available from the national population database.

The information in the national population database is legal, secure and private. Currently, the mechanism for sharing the data to serve statistical work is still inadequate, so the accessibility of this information for research and analysis activities of organisations, individuals inside and outside the country is still limited.

Therefore, the mid-term 2024 population census still falls within the National Statistical Survey Programme issued by the Prime Minister (according to Decision No 03/2023/QĐ-TTg issued on February 15, 2023).

What are the purpose and requirements of the census?

The mid-term 2024 population census is carried out for the purposes of collecting information about the population and housing as a basis for evaluating the implementation of the socio-economic development plan for the period 2021-25; developing policies, planning population and housing to serve the formulation of the socio-economic development plan for the period 2026-30; monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that the Government of Việt Nam has committed to.

In addition, the census also provides information on the population scale at the district level after five years of implementing the 2019 Population and Housing Census; serves as a basis for reviewing, adjusting population figures annually for the period 2020-24; updating the population and housing database managed by the General Statistics Office to serve research, analysis and forecasting of the population and housing development process between the two national censuses nation-wide and at the local level; meeting international comparison requirements.

The census will be conducted to ensure the following requirements such as accurately implementing the prescribed contents as planned; ensuring the confidentiality of information collected from survey subjects as stipulated by the Law on Statistics; managing and using the survey funds efficiently and effectively according to current regulations; the survey results must meet the information requirements related to the population, used to compile indicators of the National Statistical Indicator System, Provincial Statistical Indicator System, District Statistical Indicator System, Commune Statistical Indicator System; meeting international comparison requirements.

Could you please provide more details about the scope, subjects and content of the census?

The mid-term 2024 population and housing census is conducted nationwide in 63 provinces and cities, including all districts and towns, except for four small island districts of Bạch Long Vỹ belonging to Hải Phòng City; Cồn Cỏ belonging to Quảng Trị Province; Hoàng Sa belonging to Đà Nẵng City; and Trường Sa belonging to Khánh Hòa Province.

The survey subjects include households. The de facto usual residence population of households (including those belonging to armed forces, foreigners currently living in the household), but excluding those living in military and police-controlled areas.

The mid-term 2024 population census is a sample survey, with the survey sample designed to ensure representativeness up to the district level for the population scale indicator and provincial level for the remaining indicators. The overall sample framework of the 2019 census is used as the sample frame for the mid-term 2024 census.

The mid-term 2024 population census will collect information on seven main contents of demographic characteristics of household members; migration; education; marriage; birth history of women aged 10-49; deaths in households; housing and living conditions of households.

What are the new features of the mid-term 2024 population and housing census?

The results of the mid-term 2024 population census contribute to the implementation of the project on developing and applying the population data and electronic identification and authentication to serve national digital transformation in the period of 2022 - 25, a vision towards 2030 (Project 06).

There are changes in the survey subjects. In previous Population and Housing Censuses as well as annual population fluctuation surveys and family planning, the survey subjects only included Vietnamese nationals.

In the mid-term 2024 population census, foreigners are included as survey subjects for the first time to ensure statistical standards and international recommendations on population statistics, as well as to achieve sustainable development goals to "leave no one behind".

The mid-term 2024 population census has a large sample size. The mid-term 2024 population census is a sample survey conducted nationwide; it combines direct and indirect methods of information collection.

Therefore, in addition to the direct interview method used in previous surveys, the mid-term 2024 population census also combines an indirect method, applied to households where all members are foreigners and cannot communicate in Vietnamese.

The census will be conducted from April 1, 2024 to April 30, 2024, in about 40 thousand locations out of a total of over 200 thousand locations nationwide. — VNS