Việt Nam's birth rate has reached a record low and is expected to continue to decrease. VNA/VNS Photo Khánh Hòa

HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Population Authority has proposed allowing female workers to extend their maternity leave from six months to seven months, when giving birth to a second child.

The move is part of the draft law on population being compiled by the Ministry of Health aimed at tackling the country’s low birth rate.

The authority also proposed creating conditions for women with two children who work at industrial parks, export processing zones and provinces and cities with low birth rates, to get support in order to rent or to buy social housing.

The proposals behind the development of the population law has three groups of policies: maintaining the replacement fertility rate, minimising gender imbalance at birth and bringing the sex ratio at birth to a natural balance and improving population quality.

According to the draft law, each couple and individual has the right to decide equally and voluntarily on having children, the time of giving birth, the number of children and the interval between births in accordance with their ages, health status, conditions of study, labour, work, income and child-rearing of the individual and couple.

In order to sustain the replacement fertility rate nationwide and prevent the continued low fertility rates in some provinces and cities, the Prime Minister approved the programme to adjust fertility rates to suit regions and subjects by 2030.

The programme encourages men and women to get married before the age of 30 and have children early, while offering motivation for women to have a second child before the age of 35.

The director of the Việt Nam Population Authority under the Ministry of Health, Lê Thanh Dũng, said the regulations on the number of children for each couple and individual and the disciplinary action against Party members who have a third child or more are no longer suitable for the current reality.

Việt Nam's birth rate is falling below the replacement level - from 2.11 children per woman in 2021 to 2.01 children per woman in 2022, 1.96 children per woman in 2023 and 1.91 children per woman in 2024. This is the lowest rate in history and expected to continue to decrease in the coming years, he said.

The decision not to discipline Party members who have a third child or more is just one of the solutions that is being considered to maintain the replacement birth rate, and stemming the continuous decrease, he said

Many current studies show that the desire to have two children in each family is still popular, but not all couples can realise that desire. Factors in life greatly influence people's decisions to have children, he said.

After amending the regulation on no discipline for Party members who have three or more babies, the birth rate may increase in the short term, but not significantly, he said.

From other countries’ experience, he said it is necessary to have policies to ensure necessary and sufficient conditions for women and couples to have children while taking good care of and raising their children in order to prevent the falling low birth rates.

It is hoped that this decision will be a positive start, and along with decisive measures and policies in the coming time, Việt Nam will be able to achieve the population goals, he said.

Deputy director of the Việt Nam Population Authority's Department of Communications and Education, Dr Mai Xuân Phương, acknowledged that women are still stressed with the burden of being wives and mothers and also working and taking care of all the housework, which is a heavy burden on their shoulders. They can also face psychological and health pressure after giving birth with many suffering from depression and illness.

Concerns about housing and a series of living expenses such as milk, nappies, education and health costs in the context of inflation, have caused many people to delay or even refuse to have children, she said.

The former director of the Institute of Population and Social Issues, National Economics University, Professor Nguyễn Đình Cử, said having children brings benefits to not only the couple and the family but also to society in terms of providing human resources.

He said raising children cannot be the responsibility of the family alone, especially when the costs of raising a child are increasingly large compared to the incomes of many young couples.

The State, family and society need to partner with individuals to raise and educate children through cost-sharing schemes like lump sum allowance, annual allowance, personal income tax reduction, tuition fee exemption, he said.

One of the solutions that Professor Cử proposed to encourage families to have two children is to diversify the paid leave regime when pregnant, giving birth, or when the child is sick. Couples with small children should enjoy flexible working conditions such as reduced hours, coming in late, leaving early, unpaid leave or working from home.

"In South Korea, female workers are entitled to 90 days of maternity leave, male workers whose wives give birth are also entitled to ten days of leave. The time off to take care of children is up to one year for both male and female workers. Workers can choose the appropriate time to take time off to take care of their children until their children turn eight years old," he said. VNS