The pressure to buy a house makes many young people in Ho Chi Minh City feel insecure about having children.

Through a quick survey, many young people in Ho Chi Minh City said that the pressure to buy a house is a huge barrier, preventing young people from having children with peace of mind.

Many couples believe that there should be policies to reduce economic pressure on them to increase birth rates - Photo: DUYEN PHAN

On September 24, the Ministry of Health held a workshop to contribute ideas to the draft project dossier to amend and supplement the program to adjust birth rates to suit regions and subjects by 2030.

According to the Ministry of Health 's report, after 15 years of achieving and maintaining the replacement fertility rate, in the 2021-2024 period, the national fertility rate continuously decreased below the replacement fertility rate, decreasing rapidly from 2.11 children/woman (2021) to 1.91 children/woman (2024).

This is the lowest level in history and is forecast to continue to decrease in the following years, failing to achieve the goal of firmly maintaining the replacement fertility level in the 2020-2025 period.

According to forecasts, if the birth rate continues to decrease, by 2030 Vietnam will end its golden population period, in 2042 the working-age population will peak and after 2054 the population will begin to grow negatively.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu - Head of the Department of Population Size and Family Planning, Department of Population (Ministry of Health) - said that the trend of low and declining birth rates is concentrated in urban areas, where socio-economic conditions are developed and urbanization is high.

Currently, 6/34 provinces and cities after the rearrangement have reached the replacement fertility level (accounting for 17%).

There are 21 provinces and cities nationwide with low fertility rates, the average regional fertility rate in the 2020-2024 period decreased by 0.2 children/woman. Of which, 16 localities have a fertility rate below 1.8 children/woman, very low compared to the replacement fertility rate, especially the provinces and cities of Ho Chi Minh City (1.42 children), Can Tho (1.61 children), Tay Ninh (1.63 children) which are difficult to restore in terms of replacement function.

MSc. Pham Chanh Trung - Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Population Department - said that through a quick survey by the unit when asking people's opinions on solutions to solve the problem of low birth rate in the city, there are currently many factors affecting the choice of having children, of which 4 main issues stand out: healthcare, education, housing and childcare services.

The city's health sector is consulting and submitting to competent authorities specific policies to support people, including a special policy to support medical examination costs for couples before marriage and vaccination against infectious diseases for women before pregnancy; a special policy to support medical examination and check-up costs for preschool children, primary school students, middle school students, public and non-public high school students and continuing education students...

In addition to the solutions that have been and are being implemented, Mr. Trung also proposed a number of solutions based on the specific reality of the city's population work, such as supporting infertility treatment costs for low-income people, which is also a factor to consider.

The Department of Population will advise the Department of Health to request the Department of Education and Training to integrate the story of the city's low birth rate and aging population into the local education curriculum, with lessons at high schools.

Next, the city also needs a breakthrough solution in the story of nursery schools and after-school activities for children and students. Currently, there are very few nursery schools for children under 12 months old, especially the gap in nursery schools for children from 6-12 months old.

In addition, the ability to buy a house is a huge barrier for young people to have peace of mind in giving birth. Therefore, the solution needs to have the coordination of many policies and support roadmaps in each stage: exemption/reduction of personal income tax, development of social housing and support for long-term rental costs in addition to health and education issues so that young people can have peace of mind in giving birth.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ap-luc-mua-nha-khien-nhieu-nguoi-tre-tp-hcm-chua-an-tam-sinh-con-20250924144718107.htm