Vietnam's Hanoi capital will spend over 363 billion Vietnamese dong (some 15.8 million U.S. dollars) in the 2018-2025 period implementing nutrition and sport programs to increase its residents height, according to the municipal Health Department on Monday.

Under the programs, by 2025, at least 50 percent of communes and wards in the capital city will have outdoor sport facilities for people to do morning exercise and practice sports free of charge. Meanwhile, grade students in the city will benefit from better nutrition programs and more advanced sport facilities and clubs.

The average height of men aged 18 years or more in Hanoi is expected to increase to 167.5 cm by 2025 and 169 cm by 2030, and that of women is expected to rise to 156.5 cm by 2025, and 158 cm by 2030.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has recently approved the Vietnam Health Program to improve the well-being, stature, longevity and life quality of Vietnamese people in the 2018-2030 period.

Vietnamese men are 163.7 cm tall on average, 13.1 cm shorter than the World Health Organization standard, while Vietnamese women are 153 cm tall, 10.7 cm below the standard, according to Vietnam's National Institute of Nutrition.