HANOI - Vietnam welcomed its 90 millionth citizen on Friday, as it ranks the 14th most populous country in the world and the third in the Southeast Asian.

Following a population survey conducted in 1989, Vietnam is predicted to see its 90 millionth citizen in 2002, but thanks to the efforts in family planning work in the past years, the country has slowed down the pace of population growth, according to the general office for population and family planning under Vietnam's health ministry.

According to the Ministry of Health, Vietnam's annual population growth shrank to 1.06 percent in 2012 from 3.5 percent in 1960. It was reported that the average number of children born to a woman fell sharply from 6.3 in 1960 to only 2.05 in 2012 in Vietnam.

In 2007, Vietnam started entering the time of golden population structure with over 69 percent of the population, 61 million people, at the working age.

The country is facing emerging problems of an increasingly aging society as well as gender imbalance at birth, with the current ratio of 112.3 boys to 100 girls.

The average life-span of the Vietnamese people increased from 40 in 1960 to 73 in 2012, said the ministry.

Being the 14th most populous country makes Vietnam a powerful country in terms of population with advantages in human resources.

Meanwhile, it also brings a huge challenge to the country in improving the life quality of Vietnam's population, said Duong Quoc Trong, general director of the general office for population and family planning at a commemorative ceremony on Friday to mark the event.