HA NOI, 30 NOVEMBER 2022: A workshop to share international experience on the use of administrative data for population statistics was held this morning in Ha Noi by the General Statistics Office of Viet Nam (GSO) with technical and financial support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

For most countries, including Vietnam, human beings are the most precious capital and the important driving force for the success and prosperity of each country. As a result, Viet Nam has always paid special attention to population statistics and invested a lot of resources in carrying out censuses and population surveys with the aim of having a complete, accurate, and reliable source of data on human capital in Vietnam. These censuses and surveys provide an evidence-based foundation for planning as well as for assessing the impact of policies and strategies for socio-economic development.

So far, Viet Nam has successfully carried out many censuses and surveys as a basis for producing population statistics. However, all these census and surveys were carried out according to the traditional method. The GSO has not used administrative data sources in conducting statistical surveys and in calculating some important statistical indicators, in order to reduce the survey-related costs.

The industrial revolution 4.0 has brought Vietnam a good opportunity to digitize administrative data sources forministries and sectors. Therefore, the increase in utilizing administrative data or Big Data for population statistics, including censuses and surveys, becomes a new strategic priority for the GSO.

This workshop provided the GSO and other line-ministries with knowledge and experiences on the use of administrative data for Census and other population surveys, as well as assisted Viet Nam in preparing for the transition from traditional to combined or register-based census, covering topics ranging from data availability to technological viability and legal and stakeholder considerations.

Participants to the workshop were 150 delegates from the Government’s Office, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Public Health, Vietnam Social Security, Ministry of Construction and the National Economics University. Also present at the workshop were representatives from international organisations such as the United Nations Population Fund – UNFPA, the International Labour Organisation, the United Nations Development Programme – UNDP, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Danish Embassy in Vietnam and 20 national and foreign media.

The international experts came from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Statistics Korea, Statistics Denmark, Statistics Norway, the National Statistics Office of Mongolia, the Turkish Statistical Institute, and UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Office.

Speaking about the strategic transition of the statistics sector, Madame Nguyen Thi Huong, GSO Director General, expressed: “Vietnam’s Population and Housing Census 2019 was a very good example of applying ICT in all stages of the Census, as cited in many occasions at regional and international fora. Other countries are learning from Vietnam’s Census experience. Yet, we need to move further towards more digital transformation. Currently, Viet Nam has developed the national population database managed by the Ministry of Public Security as well as sectoral databases and other administrative data sources. This will be a solid foundation for the GSO to develop proposals to rennovate Census conduct towards modernity and cost-efficiency as guided by the Decision no. 06/QĐ-TTg dated 6 January 2022 by the Prime Minister on the approval of the "Project on utilizing of population database, identification, and e-authentication for national digital transformation in the period 2022-2025, vision to 2030".

Meanwhile, in her opening remarks, Ms. Naomi Kitahara, the UNFPA Representative for Vietnam said: “International experience shows that where there is a robust, consistent, complete, and high-quality registers and administrative system, a register-based census can be undertaken. Otherwise, combined census can be considered as a transition from traditional census to register-based census. Given Vietnam’s level of various register systems, as well as the population size and rapidly evolving socio-economic growth characteristics of the country, it is important for GSO to examine experience and lessons learnt from other countries. UNFPA stands ready to support this course, as we have a shared goal of ‘Better Data, Better Lives’ for Viet Nam”.

This workshop is under the framework of the VNM10P04 project: “Support Vietnam agencies in production and utilization of quality population data and evidence for the evaluation, formulation, and implementation of the socio-economic development policies, strategies, and programmes and the monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Viet Nam for the 2022-2026 period” implemented by GSO with technical and financial support from UNFPA in Viet Nam.

For further information, please contact:

General Statistics Office

Tel: 024 7304 6666 | Email: dansolaodong@gso.gov.vn

Ms. Dinh Thu Huong | UNFPA Communications Officer

Tel: 0913 301 539 | Email: dhuong@unfpa.org