Name: Dang Ha Anh

Student ID: 18040357

Class: 18E13

TEXT 3 
RAPID POPULATION GROWTH 
IS POSING NUMEROUS HARD-SOLVING PROBLEMS

Uncontrollable population growth is aggravating mankind’s inextricable problems, which

are: ecological and environmental destruction, exhausting natural resources, food
scarcity, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment along with spreading dangerous contagious
diseases.

Currently, a matter of concern to many countries is population due to its direct impacts on
the socio-economic development process. In the present circumstance, the more attention
countries pay to population issues, especially human resource development and training,
the more stable the economy is.

According to the World Bank, although comprising half of the population, Asia-Pacific
only accounts for ¼ of Gross National Product (GNP) worldwide. Meanwhile, Asian
Development Bank (ADB) has indicated that the number of people living below the
poverty line constituted 49% of South Asian inhabitants and 30% of the world
population.

In recent years, the fact that the urbanization process in Asia goes from 2 to 5 times faster
than in Europe has created the rural-to-urban migration stream. This has led to
tremendous growth in the number of Asian metropolitan residents. At the moment, the
population has reached 13 million people in Calcutta (India), 12 million residents in
Seoul (Korea), and Jakarta (Indonesia)...

Nowhere are environmental issues more pressing and tensing than in Asia due to urban
overpopulation. In Bangkok (Thailand), air pollution results in an upsurge in the quantity
of people who suffer from respiratory diseases.

The decline of natural resources, especially forest area also stems from rapid population
growth. Recently, the area of deforestation in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar
has been over 3.000 square kilometers, which poses direct effects on local inhabitants’
health. Simultaneously, it is the cause of the ozone layer depletion, droughts, floods,
hails, storms,... and a threat to many animal species.

Furthermore, rapid population growth brings about the rise in illiteracy rate and insecure
healthcare services. Nowadays, there are 600 million illiterate women over the world.
The illiteracy rate among women in Asia is relatively high (50-75%). 
Education is the most significant instrument for women to break the vicious circle of
inferior social status, poverty, and a quiverfull family. The United Nations (UN)
considers this matter to be the first priority in the implementation of family planning.

After the Program of Action (PoA) of International Conference on Population and

Development (ICPD) was ratified, people have paid meticulous attention to population
advocacies. The purposes of these activities are mobilising necessary assistance and
resources to stabilise population growth rate and to approve a wide range of population
and development initiatives.

Therefore, the government of Vietnam attempts to integrate population problems,

sustainable development and reproductive health into the operation of organizations or
institutions such as Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, The National Assembly's
Committee for Social Affairs, The National Committee for Population and Family
Planning, and mass propaganda bodies.

Population advocacy would enhance the awareness and understanding of the relationship
between population and development. The reinforcement and commitment of leaders for
indispensable initiatives would be delivered to achieve stable living standards for all
citizens.

The fate of our planet forces every country and the whole world to arrive at a momentous
choice.

(Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper, Ha Noi Moi)

EXERCISE II
Find the English equivalents for the following words and phrases. 
 dân số tăng nhanh: rapid population growth 
 vấn đề nan giải: hard-solving problem/ problem which is difficult to solve/
inextricable/insolvable/ insoluble (nghĩa hơi xa) 
 làm trầm trọng thêm: to exacerbate/ aggravate/worsen 
 sự huỷ hoại môi trường và sinh thái: ecological and environmental destruction 
 khai thác cạn kiệt tài nguyên thiên nhiên: to exhaust natural resources 
 nạn khan hiếm lương thực: food scarcity
 sự nghèo đói: poverty
 mù chữ: illiteracy
 thất nghiệp: unemployment 
 những bệnh truyền nhiễm nguy hiểm: spreading dangerous infectious/
contagious diseases
 quá trình phát triển kinh tế-xã hội: socio-economic development process
 phát triển bền vững: sustainable development
 việc đào tạo và phát triển nhân lực: human resource development (and
training) 
 tổng thu nhập quốc dân (GNP): Gross National Product
 sống dưới mức nghèo khó: to live below/under the poverty line
 làn sóng di dân từ nông thôn ra thành thị: the rural-to-urban migration
stream/flow 
 sự quá tải về dân số: overpopulation 
 các bệnh về đường hô hấp: respiratory diseases 
 diện tích rừng: forest area 
 suy thoái tầng ôzôn: the ozone layer depletion 
 đe dọa sự tồn tại của nhiều loài động vật: to threaten the existence of many
animal species
 tỷ lệ người mù chữ: illiteracy rate
 các dịch vụ y tế: healthcare services
 tỷ lệ mù chữ trong nữ giới: illiteracy rate among women
 cái vòng luẩn quẩn: a vicious circle
 một địa vị xã hội thấp kém: a(n) low/inferior social status
 Chương trình Hành Động (PoA): Program of Action (PoA)
 Hội nghị Quốc tế về Dân số và Phát triển (ICPD): International Conference on
Population and Development
 các hoạt động tuyên truyền vận động về dân số: population advocacy 
 huy động các nguồn lực và sự hỗ trợ cần thiết: to mobilise necessary assistance
and resources 
 ổn định mức tăng trưởng dân số: to stabilise population growth rate
 một loạt các sáng kiến về dân số và phát triển: a wide range of population and
development initiatives
 lồng ghép: to integrate sth into sth 
 sức khỏe sinh sản: reproductive health 
 Học viện Chính trị Quốc gia Hồ Chí Minh: Ho Chi Minh National Academy of
Politics 
 ủy ban Các Vấn đề Xã hội của Quốc Hội: The National Assembly's Committee
for Social Affairs 
 ủy ban Dân số và Kế hoạch hoá Gia Đình: The National Committee for
Population and Family Planning