Overview

• The National Assembly lifted the decades-old two-child cap on June 4, allowing couples unrestricted choice over number and spacing of children.
• Vietnam’s total fertility rate declined from 2.11 births per woman in 2021 to a record low of 1.91 in 2024, marking three straight years below the 2.1 replacement threshold.
• Big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have seen the steepest drops in birth rates as rising living costs deter young families.
• Local authorities have introduced cash payments of about $120 for women who have two children before age 35, along with six months of paid maternity leave and free healthcare for children under six.
• The health ministry has proposed tripling fines for sex-selective abortions to roughly $3,800 in an effort to correct a persistent imbalance of 112 boys born for every 100 girls.