HCMC, Dong Nai boast highest life expectancy in Vietnam

According to the Vietnam’s Human Development Index (HDI) report released this week by the General Statistics Office, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, another of HCMC’s neighbor, came third in the five-year period, during which people enjoyed an average life expectancy at birth of 76.4.

It is followed by the central hub Da Nang City with 76.1, and five Mekong Delta localities, with Tien Giang Province at 75.9, Can Tho City at 76, and Ben Tre, Long An and Vinh Long at 75.6.

Hanoi and the delta’s Hau Giang Province arrive next at 75.5.

Localities with the lowest life expectancy are the northern mountainous Lai Chau Province (65.8) and the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum (66.8).

Among the six socio-economic regions, the average life expectancy of people in the southeast region, which includes HCMC and the industrial hubs of Dong Nai and Binh Duong, is the highest in the country, while the Central Highlands region, home to the resort town of Da Lat, is the lowest.

According to the HDI report, Vietnam’s average life expectancy has gradually increased in the 2016-2020 period, from 73.4 in 2016 to 73.5 the next two years, 73.6 in 2019, and 73.7 in 2020.

Compared to the average rate in Southeast Asia, Vietnam’s average life expectancy at birth was 1.1 years higher in 2017, 0.6 year higher in 2018 and 0.5 year higher in 2019, stated the report.

Of 63 cities and provinces in Vietnam, 56 saw the average lifespan of their people in 2020 grow from that in 2016.

Of the remaining localities, three reported no changes while four saw their rates drop. Those that remained unchanged or posted decreases are mostly because of “significant changes in population structure in the area, showed in the high rate of in-migration and out-migration during this period,” the GSO revealed.

In the surveyed period, women’s average life expectancy at birth was always higher than that of men by at least five years, reaching 71 in 2020.