Blitz Bureau
A year after scrapping its longstanding two-child limit, Vietnam enacted its first Population Law on July 3, aiming to encourage childbirth amid rapid aging and falling fertility. The new law introduced a range of measures, including wider financial assistance, longer maternity and paternity leave, and expanded healthcare support for families with newborns.
Under the new rules, eligible women giving birth from July 1 will receive a minimum subsidy of 2 million Vietnamese dong ($76). Beneficiaries include women from very small ethnic minority groups, those living in areas with below-replacement fertility rates, and women who have two children before the age of 35.
Female employees who give birth to a second child are entitled to seven months of maternity leave, up from six months, while paternity leave has doubled to 10 working days. Subsidies for prenatal and newborn screening will be available to eligible groups from this month, before expanding nationwide in January.
The country of more than 100 million people saw its fertility rate fall to a record low of 1.91 children per woman in 2024, below the replacement level of 2.1.
In May, the Health Ministry set a target of raising the annual fertility rate to 2 per cent by 2030.
Experts say while pro-natalist policies can help ease financial burdens and slow the decline in births, restoring fertility to the replacement level of 2.1 alone would not resolve the aging population.
