Thirty staff from the UN Women’s Fund (UNIFEM), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Volunteers (UNV) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) will join monitoring activities for the first time in 21 province and cities during the census.

The move aims to advocate and reinforce the importance of the national census enumeration, so that more efforts and resources will be made available by government authorities at all levels, thereby helping to ensure the quality and success of the census.

“Supporting the 2009 census is a key priority for the UN as it will provide the Government with the detailed information required to undertake more robust socio-economic development planning for the next ten year,” said John Hendra, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam.

The UNFPA will contribute US$3 million to the total cost of the census, which is around US$33 million. The census result will be announced in the third quarter of 2010.

Since 1975 Vietnam has carried out three national population censuses, (in 1979, 1989 and 1999, respectively).