Population censuses have showed that there is a rising trend towards small families in Vietnam, a country rated by ESCAP as Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economy in 2006.

The number of family members was reduced to 4.61 in 1999 from 5.22 in 1979 and this trend is believed to continue as the country is rushes towards industrial development.

General censuses have showed that regional family sizes differ depending on an areas developmental level. The Red River Delta region has the lowest family size with an average of 4.1 people in a family and the northwestern mountainous region, with over five members to a family, represented the highest family size in the nation.

Smaller-sized families provide advantages, such as more female equality and better care for children, but they also pose challenges to family traditions such as taking care of the elderly and the establishment of good child characteristics. Up to 30% of surveyed families in Hanoi said they have not had time to teach their children beneficial characteristics.

The trend that married children live apart from parents has driven old people into a danger of loneliness and economic difficulties, especially in rural communities where social insurances for the elderly are not commonplace.

Due to the opening of the economy, all Vietnamese families face vulnerabilities to social evils and problems such as drug addiction, prostitution and street children.

To help families cope with these problems, agencies and social organisations have worked together to increase public awareness on family roles and responsibilities to build a model of civilised and sustainable families. Vietnam Family day was also set up in 2001 for this purpose.

Vietnam Family day is celebrated every June 28 with various activities to raise public awareness against social evils involving the family. (VNA)

ADB funds bio-preservation project in central Vietnam

In or der to maintain the integrity of the landscape in the Ngoc Linh-Xe Sap corridor, the Asia Development Bank (ADB) has invested US $3.23 million  in a biological preservation project.

The project, which focuses on Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam and Kon Tum provinces, has been ployed and developed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Planning and Investment for 2006-16.

During the last few years, forest areas in the provinces have lost their biological diversity because of added infrastructure and lack of investment projects.

Facing the challenge, the project aims to maintain the integrity of the landscape of the Truong Son mountain range, in particular regions belonging to Ngoc Linh-Xe Sap areas. (VNA)