HANOI, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam expects to have a sex rate at birth of 112.8 boys per 100 girls and an average population of 94.7 million in 2018, according to a conference held by the General Office for Population - Family Planning in Hanoi on Wednesday.

The population growth rate is hoped to expand only 1 percent, while the rate of modern contraception use is expected to be 67.4 percent, Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Forty percent of pregnant women are set to receive prenatal screening. The office also hoped to expand health insurance coverage to 100 percent of the elderly this year.

Vietnam's population reached 93.7 million last year, up 1.07 percent against 2016, while the sex rate at birth stood at 112.4 boys/100 girls.

More than 912,000 elders got regular medical examinations and 92.8 percent of elderly people had health insurance.