A medical worker takes care of newborns in the HCM City-based Hùng Vương Hospital. — VNA/VNS Photo Đinh Hằng

HÀ NỘI — Many policies are being revised to encourage childbirth, but experts still wonder whether they are enough to improve the low birth rate.

According to the General Statistics Office, Việt Nam's population last year was estimated at 101.3 million people.

The total fertility rate is 1.91 children per woman, lower than the replacement fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman and is on a downward trajectory.

Experts believe that without timely intervention, within just ten years, Việt Nam will officially enter the ageing population stage, facing the risk of labour shortage in the future.

Fertility rates are particularly low in big cities and industrial zones, where high child-rearing costs and work pressures cause many couples to delay or avoid having more children.

Encouragement

The Politburo has put in a request that Party members who have a third child are not disciplined and are looking at policies which may exempt or reduce tuition fees.

Most recently, the Ministry of Health (MoH) proposed to empower each couple and individual to decide on the number of children and the time of birth in accordance with their conditions.

The MoH also suggested to extend maternity leave to seven months for women giving birth to a second child, and provide support for renting and buying social housing.

Director of the Department of Population under the MoH, Lê Thanh Dũng, said that the MoH would submit to the Government a proposal to draft the Law on Population, proposing three major policy groups: Maintaining the replacement birth rate, reducing gender imbalance at birth and bringing the sex ratio at birth to a natural balance, while improving population quality.

Currently, female workers are entitled to six months of maternity leave, including pre-and post-natal leave.

The proposal to extend maternity leave to seven months for women giving birth to a second child is considered a possible solution to maintain replacement fertility and contribute to improving population quality.

Nguyễn Thị Lan, a worker at the Sài Đồng B Industrial Park, said that the policy was beneficial for both mother and baby, because having more time to take care of the child in the early stage of life was very important.

However, she is worried about her loss of income, because even if she takes an extra month off, without appropriate financial support, family life will be difficult.

Sharing the same thought, Phạm Thanh Thuỷ, a worker at the Sài Đồng B Industrial Park, expressed her support if she could take an additional month off.

But she thought that after returning to the company, she might be assigned lighter work, have less promotion opportunities, or even be fired if she has a short-term contract.

Nguyễn Hoài Nam, from the TMN Trading Joint Stock Company, said that as a business owner with many female employees, he supported increasing maternity leave so that mothers would have more time to take care of their children.

However, it would put great pressure on businesses to maintain production.

Without a mechanism to support temporary recruitment or reasonable personnel adjustments, businesses would face difficulties.

Nam hopes that the policy will come with a balanced solution to support businesses to both ensure workers' rights and help businesses operate stably.

Experts say that to make policies encouraging childbirth to be truly effective, synchronous adjustments are needed to harmonise the interests of workers, businesses and the State.

In addition, policies must be implemented flexibly in each region, especially in large cities and industrial zones, where birth rates are falling sharply.

The Government needs to support businesses to maintain production when female workers take maternity leave, and at the same time encourage businesses to set up appropriate remuneration policies to help women feel secure in giving birth without worrying about their careers.

Remove barriers

Experts assess that the above policies are suitable for reality, promoting replacement fertility nationwide because one of the biggest barriers that makes many families afraid to have children today is financial pressure, especially in big cities where the cost of raising children is very high.

Professor Nguyễn Đình Cử, former director of the Institute for Population and Social Issues, said that not disciplining Party members who had a third child or more would create an important mark, slowing down the current trend of declining birth rates while creating a premise for adjusting and perfecting related regulations.

In addition, said Cử, the birth of a child would not only bring joy and responsibility to the family, but when they grow up, they would contribute to the social development. Therefore, raising children should not be the sole responsibility of the family, but would require the joint efforts of both society and the State.

Currently, Việt Nam is doing a good job of exempting tuition fees for students, but that is still not enough because raising a child has many other costs.

Experts believe that the State needs to learn from the experiences of other countries that are introducing policies to encourage childbirth.

They say that for the policy to be truly effective, a comprehensive approach is needed, combining financial support, social welfare and improving the working environment. — VNS