On the afternoon of June 3, the National Assembly Standing Committee voted to approve a resolution amending Article 10 of the Ordinance on Population. Under the amendment, each couple or individual now has the right to decide when to have children, how many to have, and the spacing between them.

The ordinance takes effect immediately following the vote by the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Of particular note is that couples and individuals are now empowered to decide the timing, number of children, and spacing between births in accordance with their age, health condition, educational and professional commitments, income, and parenting capacity, based on the principle of equality.

According to the Ministry of Health, this amendment is intended to address disparities in birth rates between regions and demographic groups, and to avoid an excessive decline in the birth rate that could undermine sustainable economic, social, national defense, and security development in the future.

Amending the legal provisions on family planning is one of several measures designed to maintain a replacement-level fertility rate and prevent it from continuing to fall.

According to current research, while many couples still aspire to have two children, not all are able to fulfill this goal. Life circumstances heavily influence reproductive decisions. Therefore, while the new regulation may cause a short-term increase in the birth rate, the rise is expected to be modest. The draft ordinance does not include provisions that affect national defense or security.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan noted that Vietnam’s fertility rate has fallen below the replacement level, dropping from 2.11 children per woman in 2021 to 2.01 in 2022, 1.96 in 2023, and 1.91 in 2024 - the lowest in history - and is projected to continue declining in the coming years.

Forecasts suggest that if the birth rate continues to decline, Vietnam will exit its demographic dividend by 2039, reach the peak of its working-age population by 2042, and begin experiencing negative population growth after 2054. This sustained low birth rate could lead to a labor shortage, shrink the population size, accelerate population aging, and negatively impact socio-economic development.

The ordinance does not contain any provisions that affect national defense or security.

Tran Thuong