No Discipline for Having a Third Child: Practical Policy to Encourage Births

The Politburo has just agreed to the policy of not disciplining party members who have three or more children. This decision was made in the context of the birth rate in Vietnam being on a continuous downward trend, and is expected to contribute to increasing the replacement birth rate nationwide.

Family happiness - Photo: NAM TRAN

Recently, the situation of replacement fertility in Vietnam falling to a record low has been continuously warned. According to the Ministry of Health, the replacement fertility rate is at its lowest level in the past 12 years and is forecast to continue to fall in the following years.

Change to suit reality

From 2009 to the end of 2022, for nearly 15 years, Vietnam's fertility rate remained relatively stable around the replacement level. However, in the last two years, 2023 - 2024, Vietnam's fertility rate began to show signs of decreasing more rapidly. In 2023, Vietnam's total fertility rate was 1.96 children/woman and this number continued to decrease to 1.91 children/woman in 2024.

Of which, two regions with low and lower than replacement fertility rates are the Southeast and the Mekong Delta (1.48 children/woman, 1.62 children/woman, respectively). Meanwhile, to maintain a stable replacement fertility rate, on average, each woman of childbearing age has 2.1 children, nationwide.

Reality requires quick solutions to improve fertility rates and cope with the approaching population aging. That is why, in the process of drafting the Population Law, the Ministry of Health has proposed many solutions to increase replacement fertility rates.

The Ministry of Health has proposed to remove the disciplinary regulations for people who have a third child or more. This is one of many solutions to increase the birth rate in the current context. The Ministry of Health also proposed that couples and individuals have the right to decide voluntarily, equally and responsibly on having children, the time of giving birth, and the number of children.

The Politburo agreed with this proposal and requested to urgently review and amend legal documents with regulations on the number of children and guidance 05 in the direction of not disciplining cases of giving birth to a third child or more.

Sharing with Tuoi Tre, Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu - former director of the Institute of Population and Social Issues (National Economics University) - expressed his joy and said that the policy amendment is completely appropriate in the current context.

Happy to be able to have more children

Mr. Cu said that in the past, population and family planning policies only focused on solving one problem: high birth rates. These policies have helped Vietnam successfully prevent population explosion.

"However, after that, in the past 20 years we have maintained the replacement fertility level, but I see that only 4 years have maintained the replacement fertility level, the remaining 14 years have been below the replacement fertility level. This raises urgent needs for policy changes.

About 10 years ago, I shared about the need to change policies to limit births and discipline party members when having a third child. The new population policy must address many issues such as maintaining replacement fertility, adapting to population aging, taking advantage of the golden population structure...

"If we still discipline party members who have a third child or more, it is not appropriate. Therefore, when the information came that the Politburo agreed to the proposal of not punishing people who have a third child, I was very happy," Mr. Cu expressed.

According to Mr. Cu, we need to continue to review and change the entire policy system related to punishing people who have a third child to continue to amend.

Sharing with Tuoi Tre, a population expert also said that removing disciplinary regulations for people having a third child is necessary in the current context of many people being "afraid to give birth".

"Recently, the slogan "memorize" - "Each couple should only have 1 to 2 children" has also been replaced by "Each couple should have 2 children". Therefore, I think that practical policies such as removing disciplinary regulations for people having a third child will help loosen the need for a group of people who really want to have children. From there, they can have more children according to their needs without being constrained", this person expressed.

The Ministry of Health encourages "Each couple should have 2 children" in the context of declining birth rates - Photo: NAM TRAN

Many birth promotion policies need to be implemented in parallel.

MSc. Nguyen Thi Hong, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, said that according to statistics from the Department of Population (Ministry of Health), Vietnam's total fertility rate in 2023 is 1.95 children/woman, continuing to decrease compared to 2022 (2.01 children/woman) and increasingly far from the mark of 2.09 children in 2019.

This poses many future socio-economic challenges for Vietnam, requiring the promotion of birth promotion policies in areas with low birth rates, with urban areas being less than rural areas.

The main reason is still economic pressure, the increasing cost of raising children, especially in the fields of education, health care and housing. The preference for single life, late marriage or not having children is becoming more common. Many women face conflicts between work and family responsibilities.

With the current advantage of a "golden population", Vietnam needs to focus on investing in education, developing human resources, and improving population quality. The policy of encouraging fertility is not only to cope with population decline but also an important foundation for sustainable social development.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Hoai Huong - Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies, late marriage and having few children is a common trend in urban areas in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular, this comes from the change in young people's awareness of education, career and personal experience.

Without timely adjustment policies, this trend will lead to a shortage of young population in the future, increasing the burden of elderly care and pressure on the social security system.

Therefore, many policies are needed to promote fertility, such as providing direct financial support to couples who marry and have children, such as cash subsidies, tax breaks or living cost support, especially in the early years of childbearing.

In addition, it is necessary to establish preferential loan packages for young families, helping them reduce the financial burden of getting married and having children.

Expand public childcare services and reduce the cost of these services to help families balance work and childcare. Encourage businesses to establish family-friendly policies such as flexible working hours, parental leave, or on-site childcare.

How are party members disciplined for having a third child?

Previously, according to regulation 102-QD/TW in 2017 on disciplinary action against party members who violate the policy on population and family planning issued by the Central Executive Committee, the disciplinary action against party members who violate the policy on population and family planning is very "strict".

In particular, it specifically stipulates disciplinary levels from reprimand, warning to expulsion for party members who have a third, fourth, or fifth child.

By 2022, the Politburo issued Regulation 69-QD/TW on disciplining party organizations and party members who violate the law. This new regulation no longer lists the disciplinary actions of party members who have a third, fourth, or fifth child, but instead uses the phrase "violation of population policy".

Accordingly, party members who have a third child or more will violate population policy. Specifically, if they have a third child, party members will be disciplined with a reprimand (except in certain cases).

Need to calculate the balance of happiness index and economic growth index

Dr. Ho Ba Tham, vice president of the Vietnam Association for Human Resources and Talent Development, said that increasing life expectancy and a declining birth rate have made Vietnam one of the fastest aging countries in the world, and it is predicted that it will enter the aging population stage by 2038.

In recent years, the birth rate in Vietnam has shown a clear downward trend. Vietnam's total fertility rate is the lowest in Southeast Asia (2 children/woman). The consequence of the decline in birth rate is an increase in population aging, causing the country to face the situation of "not yet rich but already old". This poses many economic and social challenges such as population structure and size, reduction in labor force...

Experience from some countries shows that they have calculated a balance between happiness index and economic and social growth index, which is an important lesson to refer to. High economic growth accompanied by rapid population aging and prolonged decline in fertility cannot be considered true happiness.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/khong-ky-luat-nguoi-sinh-con-thu-3-chinh-sach-thiet-thuc-de-khuyen-sinh-20250220001755369.htm