vietnam sante 12jan02

A new population survey in Vietnam says people have grown taller and heavier in the past 15 years ago, but children in poverty-stricken rural areas remain smaller than those who grow up in cities.

Experts at Vietnam's Institute of Nutrition say a survey measuring 10-year-old children showed that city boys outgrew country boys by four centimeters, while city girls measured 4.3 centimeters taller than their rural counterparts.

Institute chief Ha Huy Khoi attributed the difference to better nutrition, health care and environmental factors in the cities.

Eighty percent of Vietnamese live in the countryside, where poverty and malnutrition exists.

Some information for this report provided by AP and DPA.