To increase height by 1.5 cm in the next 7 years, what should Vietnam do?

To help adolescents grow 1.5 cm taller by 2030, Vietnam should implement a three-pronged strategy of nutrition and physical fitness, including intervention during the golden 1,000 days, according to experts.

Students of Bui Van Moi Primary School, Phuoc Long Ward, September 2025

This stature development target is part of the newly issued Resolution 72 of the Politburo on breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health. Accordingly, the focus is not only on physical strength, intelligence and stature but also on increasing people's healthy life expectancy, expected to reach 75.5 years and a minimum of 68 years of healthy life by 2030.

Dr. Truong Hong Son, Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Medical Association and Director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine, said that the average height of Vietnamese people has improved significantly, especially in the past decade. The results of the National Nutrition Survey for the period 2019-2020 conducted by the Institute of Nutrition and the General Statistics Office showed that the average height of young Vietnamese men reached 168.1 cm, while that of women was 156.2 cm. Compared to 10 years earlier, this figure has increased by 3.7 cm in men and 2.6 cm in women, respectively.

"This is a significant increase, considered the fastest ever, and helps Vietnam no longer be in the 'shortest in Southeast Asia' group," said Dr. Son. He also compared that the height growth rate of Vietnamese youth in the period 1990-2020 is equivalent to Japan's "golden period" of youth height growth, which took place from 1955 to 1995.

Although the stature of Vietnamese people has improved, Dr. Son said there are still many barriers that need to be overcome to ensure the physical strength and stature of future generations. One of the core issues is the significant difference between regions.

Although the rate of stunting among children under 5 years old nationwide has dropped below 20%, regional differences remain large. The Northern mountainous provinces and the Central Highlands have the highest stunting rates, often hovering above 25%, with some provinces even reaching 30% or more. In contrast, urban areas have much lower stunting rates than rural areas. In particular, children and adolescents in large cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have significantly higher average heights than those in remote areas.

In addition, there are problems with nutritional quality and micronutrient deficiencies. The rate of anemia and zinc deficiency remains high in children and pregnant women. In particular, zinc deficiency is a common problem, affecting nearly 58% of children under 5 years old and 63.7% of pregnant women. Zinc is an essential micronutrient for growth and development. Vitamin D and calcium deficiency are also common, especially in large cities, due to unbalanced diets and lifestyles with little exposure to sunlight.

Another counter-trend is the rapid increase in overweight and obesity rates among school-age children (5-19 years old), especially in urban areas. The overall overweight and obesity rate among children under 5 years old nationwide was 5.8% in 2020, jumping to 9.8% in urban areas. In large cities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, the alarming figure is 30-40% in some age groups. This imbalance shows that the problem lies not only in malnutrition but also in the quality of meals and sedentary lifestyles.

Children and adolescents, especially those in urban areas, often do not spend enough time on physical activity, falling short of the recommended minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day. Instead, they spend a lot of time using electronic devices, contributing to a sedentary lifestyle. Many urban areas also lack safe playgrounds and public parks for children to exercise. Irregular living habits, such as sleeping late and eating irregularly, also affect height growth.

Faced with these complex challenges, Dr. Son proposes a three-pronged intervention strategy of nutrition, physical exercise, and applied research.

Regarding nutrition, it is necessary to continue to focus on nutritional care for pregnant mothers and children under 5 years old. Strengthening education and communication on reasonable, diverse and nutritious diets is very important. The specific goal is to increase the proportion of schools organizing school meals according to the menu recommended by the Ministry of Health, striving to reach 90% in urban areas and 80% in rural areas by 2030. Along with that, it is necessary to control overweight and obesity and reduce the rate of stunting in children under 5 years old to below 15% by 2030.

In terms of physical education and exercise, it is necessary to strengthen physical education in the school system, from kindergarten to university, and develop school sports clubs to encourage students to exercise regularly.

Finally, it is necessary to focus on researching the core factors affecting the stature and physical strength of Vietnamese people, building a standard daily nutritional menu suitable for each subject, and perfecting the health and nutrition monitoring and tracking system.

Mr. Son added that nutritional intervention solutions must be deployed continuously and nationwide, with clear targets for each region and target group.

"Prioritizing the issue of pregnant women and children will be the key to realizing the goal of increasing average height by 1.5 cm by 2030," said Dr. Son.

For example, human stature is most strongly affected in the first 1,000 days of life (9 months of pregnancy and the first two years of life), the pre-school period and puberty. During pregnancy, children grow from 0 to 50 cm in just 9 months, this is the period of fastest height growth. In the first year after birth, children's height increases on average 25 cm. In the second year, children continue to grow about 12.5 cm.

By the end of the first 1,000 days, a child can reach 50% of his or her adult height. If during this period, the child does not receive enough essential micronutrients, it will be difficult to fully compensate for the height loss in the following years. After this period, the rate of height increase decreases and there is only a sharp increase during puberty before the growth rate slows down and ends around the age of 19.

PV - VNN

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/tang-them-1-5-cm-chieu-cao-trong-7-nam-toi-viet-nam-can-lam-gi-522156.html