Speaking at the workshop "Low fertility in Vietnam: Current situation and solutions" organized by the Vietnam Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Hanoi recently, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong said that in the world, fertility rates in most continents are continuously decreasing and falling very low compared to the replacement fertility rate. This reality leads to a shortage of labor resources, problems of aging population and elderly care. It is predicted that labor shortages will be common worldwide after 2055, affecting unsustainable human development.
Low birth rates are not only occurring in urban areas.
In Vietnam, the population growth rate has been successfully controlled, reaching the replacement level since 2006 and has continued to be maintained until now. However, Vietnam is facing a significant difference in fertility rates between regions. In addition to 33 provinces with high fertility rates, there are currently 21 provinces and cities with low fertility rates, some even with very low fertility rates, concentrated in the Southeast, Mekong Delta and Central Coast regions. The low fertility provinces have a population of 37.9 million people, accounting for about 39.4% of the country's population, which will have a great impact on the country's sustainable development.
Vietnam is one of the countries with a high infertility rate (about 7.7%), of which primary infertility is 3.9% and secondary infertility is 3.8%, affecting millions of infertile individuals and couples.
Notably, low birth rates occur not only in some urban areas with developed economic conditions but also in many provinces with difficult socio-economic conditions in the Mekong Delta region, which plays an important role in agricultural production and ensuring national food security.
In addition, information at the conference said that Vietnam is one of the countries with a high infertility rate (about 7.7%), of which primary infertility is 3.9% and secondary infertility is 3.8%, affecting millions of infertile individuals and couples.
Prolonged low birth rates will leave many consequences such as rapid population aging, labor shortages, and impacts on social security. Many countries in the world have succeeded in reducing birth rates, but no country has succeeded in bringing very low birth rates to replacement levels, despite many birth promotion policies with large investment resources.
Solutions for low fertility areas
To address the birth rate gap, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 588/QD-TTg approving the program to adjust birth rates to suit regions and subjects by 2030.
The Minister of Health has issued Decision No. 2324/QD-BYT to issue an Action Plan for implementation, which clearly states that the goal by 2030 for low birth rate areas is to increase the total birth rate by 10% in provinces and cities with low birth rates (on average, each woman of childbearing age has less than 2 children).
The main solutions for low birth rate areas are: focusing on promoting the benefits of having 2 children; promoting the disadvantages of getting married, having children too late, having few children for socio-economic development; encouraging young men and women not to get married late, not to have children late, each couple to have 2 children and raise their children well; encouraging men and women to get married before 30 years old, not to get married late and have children early, women to have a second child before 35 years old; building an environment and community suitable for families with young children; supporting and encouraging couples to have 2 children.
Source link
Comment (0)