In a move that will surely put a smile on the face of Vietnamese moms everywhere, the government recently announced an initiative to encourage local couples to tie the knot and start popping out children early.
As Thanh Nien reports, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently approved a program to outline the ideal birth rates across Vietnam’s localities from now until 2030. The initiative sets up goals for specific provinces with low or high birth rates and instructs local governments to devise appropriate policies to facilitate the goal fulfillment.
From now until 2030, Vietnam aspires to increase the total fertility rate by 10% in provinces with low birth rates. A 10% decrease is targeted for those with high birth rates, while provinces that have already achieved an ideal replacement rate — from 2 to 2.2 children per woman — are to sustain these results.
To reach the desired target, the program aims to encourage Vietnamese couples to get married before 30 and start having children early. Women are encouraged to have their second child before 35. PM Phuc also implored provincial authorities to establish schemes to help their citizens, such as family planning assistance and access to contraceptives in provinces with high birth rates.
Conversely, provinces with low birth rates are urged to come up with benefits for couples with two children, such as income tax breaks, preferential admission to public schools and other public support systems.
If you’re still single, worry not, because the program also outlines several measures to aid your quest to find someone to share your life with, including dating clubs to promote interpersonal connections.
According to data from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, as of 2019, the country’s total fertility rate is 2.09 babies per woman. The figures are 1.83 and 2.26 in urban and rural regions, respectively. Ho Chi Minh City has the country’s lowest birth rate, at just 1.39 babies per woman, while Ha Tinh Province has the highest, at 2.83 babies.
While the new birth rate program is in line with Vietnam’s healthy development goals, raising more children continues to be a challenge to some local families, especially in metropolitan areas like Saigon. High living cost, increasingly competitive school admissions and long work hours all contribute to the decision to have fewer children by urban parents.
