The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has launched the 2014 National Month of Action on Population, which aims to maintain a reasonably low birth rate – every couple should have two children – for the sake of the sustainable development of the country. Speaking at the launching ceremony held in Hanoi on Tuesday, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien commented that the country has achieved many important results in the field of population and family planning over the past several decades.

The average number of children per couple in the reproductive age has dropped from 6.4 children in 1960 to 2.1 children in 2013; the population growth rate per year decreased from 3.5 percent in 1960 to 1.05 percent in 2013; the population size in 2013 was kept at 90 million people; and the average life expectancy rose from 40 in 1960 to 73 in 2013. Despite these important achievements, the country still faces many difficulties and challenges in terms of population size, population structure, population quality, which directly affect the sustainable development of the country, said Deputy Minister Tien. In particular, the population size is still large and on the rise, while the average birth rate remains instable, with a number of provinces and cities having too high birth rates while many others having too low birth rates, which all have adverse affects on the country’s social and economic development.

In many mountainous areas in the northern and central regions and the Central Highlands, there have still been cases in which a couple have 6-7 children, while in the southeastern region and the Mekong Delta, a low birth rate at 1.5-1.6 children per couple has been recorded, the General Department of Population and Family Planning said.

Therefore, it is an important task in the coming time to attain and maintain a proper replacement birth rate. Nowadays, the previous motto: “Every couple should have one or two children,” has been changed into: “Every couple should have two children.”

Sex imbalance remains Besides, the population sector is facing a big problem: a serious imbalance in the sex ratio at birth that is increasing year after year. Currently, the ratio is 113.8 boys per 100 girls.

If no effective measures are taken to address the imbalance, Vietnam hardly meets the target of sex ratio at birth of 115 boys per 100 girls in 2020, the general department said.  In order to resolve this problem, Deputy Minister Tien said the population sector should strengthen propaganda activities aiming to call on couples not to select the sex of their future children. In addition, concerned agencies should tighten the enforcement of regulations on banning the sex selection at birth, while strengthening policies to give incentives to couples having girls only.

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