HANOI, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam saw a year-on-year increase of 9.9 percent in birth rate in the first half (H1) of 2016, said Le Canh Nhac, deputy director of the country's General Office for Population and Family Planning on Tuesday.
Nhac told a press held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi to celebrate World Population Day which falls on July 11 annually with theme of "Investing in teenage girls."
According to Nhac, the use of contraceptive methods in Vietnam remains low and did not meet with the whole year's target.
The official said in the second half this year, Vietnam will implement measures to reduce gender imbalance at birth and promote contraceptives and family planning services.
Vietnam's population is estimated to hit 92.7 million in 2016, up 987,800 people or 1.08 percent compared to that of 2015, said the General Statistics Office (GSO) in late June.
At the same time, some 45.75 million people are male while 46.95 million people are female, said GSO on its website.
