In an effort to stop the decline in the fertility rate, many localities in Mekong Delta, such as Tien Giang, Hau Giang, Long An and Bac Lieu, have tried measures to encourage couples to have more children. One of the measures is a cash bonus or credits to women who have at least two children before the age of 35. 

However, the situation has not seen any considerable improvement for many years. Prof Dr Giang Thanh Long, senior expert in population and development at the National Economics University, talked to VietNamNet about proposed solutions to improve the fertility rate.

Do you think these measures can radically settle the problem? What do other countries do to encourage people to have more babies?

Young families are facing many difficulties in their lives, especially because of the Covid-19 pandemic and rapid changes in economic conditions and the labor market in Vietnam and overseas.

The unstable jobs and uncertainties and increased expenses for housing and food have caused young couples to feel more worried about their lives, especially when they have to feed small children. The problem is more serious in urban areas with some groups and migrant workers.

People have to anticipate difficulties and answer a lot of questions when deciding to have children. What they should do to have the best care during pregnancy? Which hospital should they choose to give birth? Who will help take care of the babies when the parents are at work? Which schools should they choose for their children for primary, secondary and higher education?

Other regional countries, including Japan, South Korea and Singapore, have been applying birth promotion policies. Not only giving support in cash, the governments are also offering maternity leave and wages for wives and husbands during pregnancy and after-birth periods.

The policies, in fact, have not brought the effects as expected by the governments. Couples have to think about many things and weigh the pros and cons, rather than about rewards promised by governments.

The high expenses for daily life, especially house rent and home purchase, and plans on job promotion, income improvement and studying, explain why many couples want to have only one child. 

In South Korea, 2023 was the fifth consecutive year the country had a fertility rate below 1, which meant that the number of children born was lower than the number of childbearing women. In Japan, the fertility rate has stagnated and fluctuates slightly between years. The Japanese government has been adjusting policies on education and healthcare, and has launched media campaigns on birth promotion encouragement.

Do you think that solutions on increasing wages and cutting working hours to give more time to young people to seek life partners will help?

A sociology survey conducted recently found that young people have to prepare many things for their lives, so if they have more free time, they may not use time to seek life partners, but to do other work. Some said they would use the free time to sleep so they could work better. The remaining people said they were actually not too busy to seek partners but just did not want to do this.

We can think of cutting working hours if average productivity increases proportionally or more in order to ensure output. If we just cut working hours and don’t compensate the cut with productivity improvement, our production capacity will decrease and we can’t create assets for society.

If productivity remains unchanged and the number of working hours decreases, employers will refuse to raise salaries, because this would put a heavier burden on enterprises. And once the burden becomes heavier, they will think of downsizing the workforce.

Could you please suggest radical long-term solutions to encourage young couples to have more babies?

It is undeniable that couples decide whether to have children after considering their real situation. In other words, they will only give birth if they have good conditions, and a cash bonus will not be helpful in encouraging people to have babies.

I personally think that the bonuses are just spiritual encouragement, which shows the local authorities’ attention to people’s living conditions.

Vo Thu