Overview

• On June 3 the National Assembly Standing Committee approved ending the 37-year-old limit, letting couples choose how many children to have and the spacing between births
• Vietnam’s total fertility rate declined to 1.91 children per woman in 2024, marking the third straight year below the 2.1 replacement level
• Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thi Lien Huong warned that the low birth rate threatens long-term socio-economic growth through an ageing population and workforce shortages
• Soaring living costs in major cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are discouraging many couples from expanding their families
• Health officials have proposed tripling fines for prenatal gender selection to address a persistent imbalance of 112 boys born for every 100 girls