In-depth
HCM City facing rising challenges due to population boom
  • By Van Son | dtinews.vn | May 28, 2013 03:51 PM
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While HCM City boasts a high rate of working age population at 53%, overpopulation has resulted in high rate of unemployment and an impact on the environment.

 

Overpopulation in HCM City is putting a burden on urban living standards

The metropolis now has around 7.8 million people and its population density is 13 times higher than the national average rate.

Its population growth rate averages at 2.5% per year and the rate is on the rise while the city has yet to work out an effective measure to curb it.

The rapid population growth has led to overpopulation in the city. Many districts have populations of over 500,000 people, resulting in serious environmental impacts and a negative effect on people’s living standards.

To Thi Kim Hoa, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health said the number of people at working age has tended to increase in recent few years.

The number of people of working age in the city has considerably increased from nearly three million in 2005 to over four million today.

Despite being at golden population period, up to 3.2% this group is unemployed, which is rather high compared to the rate of several other localities nationwide, Hoa said.

Those who are working in population and family planning are struggling to improve the quality of the city’s population as the city has around 40,000 new couples per year but a few of them have taken premarital health checkups.

Gender selection is still popular in the city as well, she added.

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