To effectively encourage births: Need to listen and resolve difficulties at the grassroots level

(PLVN) - In the context that many localities are facing a sharp decline in birth rates, the challenge is not only in the statistics but also in maintaining population balance, stabilizing family structure and maintaining community vitality. In particular, listening and resolving difficulties at the grassroots level to propose more suitable policies for each region and each group of residents is very important.

Addressing low fertility is a comprehensive development challenge

Recently, along with the draft Law on Population (amended), many scientific seminars have taken place for population and social experts to "advise" policies to ensure population balance.

At the scientific conference "Fertility in Vietnam: Current situation and policy solutions" organized by the Institute of Sociology and Psychology, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences on September 23, 2025, Dr. Nguyen Bich Ngoc, former Director of the Institute of Population Research, said that having children is just the beginning. What worries many families is the burden of raising children until they are 18 years old with increasingly high costs of education , health care, and living expenses.

Therefore, improving social security policies to reduce the cost of raising children is the core solution. When the social security system is strong, people will feel more secure and no longer rely heavily on their children to ensure their lives when they are old. This means that the State needs to invest synchronously in education and health care , and at the same time build elderly care services such as the model of semi-boarding nursing homes and a health care system to support the elderly.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Hanoi University of Culture, solving the low birth rate is not only the task of the population sector but also a comprehensive development challenge. Therefore, there needs to be synchronous coordination between many sectors such as health, education, finance, labor and social security to create a favorable environment for people to feel secure in starting a family, giving birth and raising healthy children, thereby ensuring a sustainable population future, closely linked to socio-economic development and gender equality.  

On October 22, 2025, the Vietnam Women's Union (VWU) coordinated with the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Union to organize a workshop on "Sharing experiences and proposing solutions to encourage increased fertility in provinces with low fertility rates, ensuring maintenance of replacement fertility rates". Speaking at the workshop, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, Vice President of the Vietnam Women's Union frankly acknowledged that in the context of a sharp decline in fertility rates in some localities, current solutions are still not strong and consistent enough. Therefore, it is necessary to summarize and replicate effective models, and at the same time listen to and resolve difficulties at the grassroots level to propose more suitable policies for each region and each group of women.

Ms. Dinh Thi Huong, Administrative Director, President of the Trade Union of Phong Thai Rubber Company Limited (Hoa Loi Ward, Ho Chi Minh City), brought practical experiences from her own business in promoting births. Accordingly, her business regularly organizes internal communications about the benefits of having two children, support policies from the State and businesses, insurance - maternity regimes, in many diverse forms such as skits, short videos, and talks on "Raising children in the 4.0 era".

The company cooperates with the Women's Union and the local health center to organize free gynecological health check-ups, pre-marital check-ups, and reproductive counseling for female workers. The union also advises the leadership to give money and gifts to pregnant and postpartum female workers; organize Tet and Mid-Autumn Festival gifts, scholarships for workers' children; organize annual trips and picnics. In particular, the company reduces working hours for pregnant women and women with children under 12 months, flexibly arranges work positions, and allows leave to take care of sick children without deduction of salary.

“Thanks to these policies, the current birth rate within the ideal childbearing age in the enterprise is relatively high, female employees ensure reasonable birth spacing and mother-child health is focused on. Specifically, the enterprise has more than 500 employees, of which 40% are female. The number of female employees within childbearing age accounts for 80%, the birth rate of 2-3 children is 96%, mainly in the age group of 20-35 (90%)”, said Ms. Dinh Thi Huong.

According to Mr. Pham Chanh Trung, Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Population Department, it is possible to take advantage of the influence of movies - a gentle, close and easy-to-understand form of communication - by promoting movies and programs that honor the image of happy families with 2 children. In addition, communication through KOL channels, singers or works of art with content that promotes family values ​​and encourages having 2 children will also bring positive effects, spreading widely in the community.

“Currently, many people still want to have children, even many children when they have the means to care for them, so this is the “golden time” for all sectors and levels to promote birth promotion. If we hesitate to act promptly, the opportunity will pass,” Mr. Pham Chanh Trung emphasized.

Don't let policy be misunderstood

The policy could have the opposite effect, that is the concern of National Assembly Delegate (NAD) Hoang Quoc Khanh (Lai Chau Delegation) at the group discussion session on the morning of October 23 within the framework of the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly, which is taking place.

The birth rate in Vietnam is showing a clear downward trend. (Illustration photo - Source: TTX)

According to National Assembly member Hoang Quoc Khanh, maintaining the replacement fertility rate is necessary, but the policy needs to be unified, specific and suitable for each region and each ethnic group. Citing the reality in some remote and isolated areas where a policy of supporting children in difficult areas with monthly payments is being implemented, National Assembly member Hoang Quoc Khanh said: “We strongly agree with the support policy. However, this policy has unintentionally caused some households in remote and isolated areas to misunderstand, thinking that the more children they have, the more support they will receive. In some places, a family has 4-5 children. I think the policy must be carefully and strictly designed and regulated, otherwise it will encourage excessive births, creating a burden on health care, education and social security. In addition to providing support regulations, it is necessary to increase communication so that people understand the true nature.”

National Assembly member Chamaléa Thi Thuy (Khanh Hoa delegation) commented that the draft Law has introduced many policies to encourage each couple to have two children, such as increasing maternity leave, financial support, and housing support, but implementation is still hindered due to limited resources, especially in disadvantaged localities. "I propose adding the principle of "implementation within the balance of the state and local budgets" to ensure feasibility," according to Ms. Thuy.

According to National Assembly member Chamaléa Thi Thuy, population policy needs to be long-term, instead of focusing only on short-term financial support. “We need to aim for sustainable measures such as developing a high-quality public and private childcare and preschool system to reduce the burden on postpartum women,” she suggested.

Ms. Thuy also proposed considering reducing personal income tax for households that have two children, considering this a form of direct encouragement and in line with the trend of many countries with low birth rates. “These policies not only help people feel secure in having children, but also contribute to effectively implementing the population target,” emphasized National Assembly member Chamaléa Thi Thuy.

At the workshop "Sharing experiences and proposing solutions to encourage increased fertility in provinces with low fertility rates, ensuring maintenance of replacement fertility rates" on October 22, 2025, Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, former member of the Politburo, former Deputy Prime Minister, former Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, pointed out 4 lessons for Vietnam to learn from high-income countries but with unsustainable human development.

First, the Government must enact marriage and childbearing support programs as soon as possible after fertility begins to fall below replacement level. Policy solutions to support marriage and childbearing must be strong enough and must bring fertility back to the replacement level before the labor force declines.

Second, the state budget alone cannot support all low-wage workers to achieve a “living wage” for a family of four. Therefore, the participation and shared responsibility of business owners and employers is a must. Only when the State and businesses join hands can the goal of every hard-working worker having an income not lower than the minimum living standard of a family of four become a reality.

Third, early education is needed so that students and young people understand the value of family and the value of having children for the survival of the nation and country. It is necessary to clearly realize that the more young people do not have children, the faster the country and the nation will decline in terms of human resources and decline.

Fourth, it is necessary to add the “Happiness subject” to the education program so that young people are not only educated to become good citizens. Workers must have good professional skills but also have the knowledge and skills necessary to make themselves and others happy, know how to raise children, and know how to build and maintain a happy family.

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/de-khuyen-sinh-hieu-qua-can-lang-nghe-va-thao-go-kho-khan-tu-co-so.html