Economics professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University Tran Van Tho has noted that Vietnam’s current population structure – 84 million people, over 30 percent of whom are aged 20-45 years old – was similar to that of Japan at the end of World War II.

Foreign investors have apparently noted that, too. South Korea’s SK Securities recently bought eight percent of local liquid petroleum gas (LPG) trader Anpha Petrol because it believed LPG’s star would rise along-side population growth, said SK’s Vietnam chief Seon Hyun Chul.

French bank Société Générale launched consumer credit operations in Vietnam last month as bank officials said they were confident that Vietnam’s large population would eventually help them make profits. The bank promised to increase its Vietnam capitalization later.

Meanwhile, Ron Nechemia, chair-man of the Board of Directors and chief operating officer of EurOrient Financial Group, attributed his company’s investment in Vietnam to the country’s growing population.

Foreign investors are also keen on residential development in Vietnam as the urban housing supply has failed to meet skyrocketing demand. Development groups from Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and China are pouring billions of dollars in housing projects here.

Thanks to the booming population, such projects are no longer for single apartment blocs like several years ago; now such groups are developing multiple housing units in large new resident areas.

Two South Korean companies recently partnered with local businesses for projects to build eight apartment blocs and trade centers worth $300 million in total in South Saigon urban area. Such projects aiming to tap into the emerging prosperity of the burgeoning population are now common in many Vietnamese cities.