Population Expected To Hit 10m in 2020: Laos

Research by the Ministry of Planning and Investment revealed last week that on current growth rates the population of Laos will climb to 10 million in 2020.

The ministry expects that the figure this year should be about 6.8 million, according to what was said at a meeting in Vientiane on Wednesday on the findings of the population survey.

A ministry official, who asked not to be named, told Vientiane Times on Friday that 6.8 million was the figure they expected to announce for the current population.

“The exact figure has to wait for the official report from the Lao Statistics Bureau, because we have just completed the fourth Lao Population and Housing Census,” she said.

When the Lao Statistics Bureau reveal the correct population total and other figures from the 2015 survey, the ministry will use them as an important source of information in making preparations for the Tenth Party Congress and the eighth National Socio-economic Development Plan for 2016 to 2020.

These are closely linked to the government’s plan to remove Laos from Least Developed Country status in 2020, and the strategy development plan for 2030.

However, informed estimates of population growth in Laos show that the total number of people is expected to increase to 10 million. The main growth area will obviously be with young people.

Infant mortality rates will be reduced substantially compared to the situation in 2005.

According to the Lao Social Indicator Survey in 2012, the death rate for birthing mothers was 357 out of every 100,000 births. The death rate for children under one year was 68 out of every 1,000 live births, and for children under five it was 79 out of every 1,000 live births.

She also revealed that, while the population will increase to 10 million people in 2020, the growth could be even higher but the modern trend was for families to be smaller than in the past with fewer children.

Urban dwellers are restricting their family size to two or three children while some women, especially those who have received a higher level of education, are opting not to have children at all.

But many people in remote areas will still give birth to five or six children, she added.

The third census taken in 2005 counted a total population of 5.4 million.

Source: Vientiane Times