“HCMC – Concerned about the high possibility of population ageing in near future, the Ministry of Health has proposed relaxing the two-child policy in the draft population law.
The draft law, which has been sent to the Ministry of Justice for comment, presents two options for population planning: first, permitting couples and individuals to decide on the number of children they want to have but to an acceptable extent, and second, keeping the current two-child policy in place.
If the two-child policy is maintained, the population will age and the economy will face a labor shortage crisis in the next 5 to 10 years, said Nguyen Huy Quang, head of the Department of Legislation under the Health Ministry.
The current birth rate varies greatly among regions, cities and provinces. In certain places, the birth rate is far below replacement level, according to data of the ministry.For example, the rate is 1.45 children per woman of childbearing age in HCMC and 1.56 in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Meanwhile, in most of the northern midland and mountainous provinces, the average fertility rate is 2.5 and the highest is 3.11 in Lai Chau.”