Vietnam’s birth rate has sunk to a record low with the total fertility rate falling to 1.91 children per woman, marking the third consecutive year it has dropped below the replacement level.
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The trend is forecast to continue in the next few years. One reason is that the resources invested by central and local governments are insufficient for the population task at hand, according to a post on the health ministry’s website citing Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong.
Like many countries across Asia seeing falling fertility rates, Vietnam is increasingly concerned about the long-term impact of declining births and an aging society.
It has even taken to using dating shows and propaganda posters to help encourage young people to have more babies as changing demographics and financial demands fuel a shift toward people choosing to have smaller families.
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‘We saw this coming’: citizens react to China increasing its retirement age
‘We saw this coming’: citizens react to China increasing its retirement age
Prolonged low birth rates could lead to labor shortages, a rapidly aging population and strains on social security. Vietnam has one of the fastest-aging populations in the world, according to the United Nations Population Fund. People aged 60 and over accounted for 11.9 per cent of the total population in 2019 and this figure will increase to more than 25 per cent by 2050, the UNFPA says.
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