Ministry of Health: Having how many children is the people's right

The Ministry of Health said that the law does not have regulations controlling how many children people can have; this is the people's right.

This is the affirmation of Deputy Director General of the General Department of Population and Family Planning Nguyen Van Tan at the press briefing on October 17 regarding two resolutions of the Central Committee on health.

More than 17% want to have 3 or more children

Mr. Tan said that in the draft resolution on population, the State will not raise the issue of continuing to reduce birth rates.

Instead, in the immediate future, maintain the replacement fertility rate of 2.1 children/woman, promote birth reduction in areas with high birth rates and promote giving birth to 2 children in areas with low birth rates, ensuring the population size in 2030 is at 104 million people, and in 2049 reaches 113-115 million people.

Deputy Director General of the General Department of Population and Family Planning Nguyen Van Tan

When asked whether it is allowed to have 3 children in areas with low birth rates, Mr. Tan affirmed: “If there are no regulations, then the regulations will not be abolished. That is the people's right, so there is no control, no requirement for how many children people can have,” Mr. Tan emphasized.

Mr. Tan explained that since the 1993 population resolution until now, in terms of law, the State has no regulations to control how many children people can have, except for party members.

Before 2008, each locality had specific regulations for party members. However, since 2008, the Central Committee has had regulation 94, unifying the form of discipline, specifically if a party member has a third child, they will be warned, and if they have a fourth child, they will be expelled. By 2013, this regulation was further relaxed, and only if they have a fifth child will they be expelled.

Mr. Tan said that the resolution clearly states that there will be a roadmap to gradually amend the regulations on handling violations of birth rates by party members. Currently, there are still 7 provinces with this regulation.

Faced with concerns that the birth rate in Vietnam will continue to decrease in the coming years, Mr. Tan said that Vietnam will not let the birth rate drop too low before adjusting its policies, so there is no need to worry like Korea, China, Singapore, Japan...

Mr. Tan added that in the latest survey of 700,000 people, over 8% still want to have more than 3 children, 9.3% want to have 3 children, 73% want to have 2 children and 8.3% want to have 1 child.

“If the birth rate continues to decrease, the Central Government will adjust further policies. However, there is no forecast for the birth rate to increase,” Mr. Tan informed.

Limiting birth rates also increases sex selection at birth.

Mr. Tan said that Vietnam is one of 15 countries with high gender imbalance at birth. This situation in our country happened late, more than 30 years after other countries, but it is increasing rapidly.

Specifically, in 2006, the boy/girl ratio in Vietnam was only 109/100, but by 2012 it was 112.3/100, in 2015 it was 112.6/100 and currently it is approximately 113 boys/girls.

The most serious of these is the Red River Delta region, with a ratio of 115 boys per 100 girls. In the provinces of Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Thai Binh, and Nam Dinh, the figure is 122/100. At the current rate, by 2050, Vietnam will be short of at least 2.3-4.3 million women.

Gender imbalance at birth in Vietnam is increasing rapidly.

Mr. Tan said that in the process of drafting the resolution on population, the Ministry of Health initially proposed that by 2030, the birth rate would be 107/100, but after receiving comments from the Central Committee, it was revised to below 109 boys/100 girls.

When the press questioned the feasibility, Mr. Tan explained: “No matter how talented the population sector is, it cannot do it alone. It requires the participation of the entire political system, changing the entire awareness and behavior of the people.”

According to Mr. Tan, there are three main reasons for the increasing gender imbalance: First, son preference is a deep-rooted cause, ingrained in the blood and minds of Vietnamese people for thousands of years; second, people abuse technology and techniques to select gender; third, social security is not guaranteed when they get old.

In addition, limiting birth rates also increases sex selection at birth.

However, Mr. Tan believes that when the birth policy is loosened, the regulations on birth rates for party members are gradually revised, along with other economic and social security solutions, the motivation to choose gender at birth will gradually decrease.

Regarding the story of Hanoi praising families who only have daughters, Mr. Tan said that this is just an experiment, so it takes time to evaluate the effectiveness.

According to VNN