HANOI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam kicked off a national population and housing census, the fifth of its kind over the past 50 years, on Monday to evaluate national targets and indicators of sustainable development, local media reported.

The census, conducted by the General Statistics Office, will investigate general population information, migration status, academic attainment level, technological specialization, disability rate, marital status, birth and death rate, population growth, labor and occupation, residency and people's basic living conditions, the Vietnam News daily reported on Monday.

The information will help to facilitate related research on Vietnam's population and housing growth, and provide basic information for the assessment of the outcomes of socio-economic development plans from 2011 to 2020 and devise strategies for socio-economic development in the 2021-2030 period.

The data will be gathered over the course of 25 days with the preliminary results to be announced in July.

At present, Vietnam's population is estimated at approximately 95.4 million with over 25.9 million households.