HANOI, Vietnam: Vietnam’s communist government has scrapped its long-standing policy of limiting families to two children, state media said Wednesday, as the country battles to reverse a declining birth rate.
The country banned couples from having more than two children in 1988, but a family’s size is now a decision for each individual couple, Vietnam News Agency said.
The country has experienced historically low birth rates in the last three years. The total fertility rate dropped to 1.91 children per woman in 2024, below replacement level, the ministry of health said this year.
Birth rates have fallen from 2.11 children per woman in 2021, to 2.01 in 2022 and 1.96 in 2023.
This trend is most pronounced in urbanised, economically developed regions, especially in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as the cost of living rises.
Tran Minh Huong, a 22-year-old office worker, told AFP that the government regulation mattered little to her as she had no plans to have children.
“Even though I am an Asian, with social norms that say women need to get married and have kids, it’s too costly to raise a child.”
Gender imbalance
Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, speaking at a conference earlier this year, warned it was increasingly difficult to encourage families to have more children, despite policy adjustments and public campaigns.
She emphasised that the declining birth rate poses challenges to long-term socio-economic development, including an ageing population and workforce shortages.
She urged society to shift its mindset from focusing solely on family planning to a broader perspective of population and development.
Vietnam is also grappling with gender imbalances due to a historic preference for boys. On Tuesday the ministry of health proposed tripling the current fine to $3,800 “to curb foetal gender selection”, according to state media.
It is forbidden to inform parents of the sex of their baby before birth in Vietnam, as well as to perform an abortion for sex-selection reasons, with penalties imposed on clinics who break the law.
The sex ratio at birth, though improved, remains skewed at 112 boys for every 100 girls.
Hoang Thi Oanh, 45, has three children but received fewer benefits after the birth of her youngest, due to the two-child policy.
