Proposal to support home purchase for couples having a second child

Ms. Pham Thi My Le - Deputy Head of the Population/Family Planning Department of Ho Chi Minh City, said that this proposal aims to solve the low birth rate of the city.Based on this idea, the Department of Health will advise the People's Committee to submit to the People's Council a Resolution on population policy and city development for the 2021-2025 period.

Accordingly, the department proposed that the city support the exemption or reduction of all hospital fees for the second birth for people with permanent residence. Provide priority packages to support loans, purchase or rent social housing for couples who have given birth to two children. Exempt or reduce education costs for children under 10 years old and implement a school milk program.

The Department also proposed a number of support options such as 1 year of maternity leave for mothers and 1 month of maternity leave for fathers. Arrange holidays and childcare breaks for families with children under 3 years old, increase the number of paid leave days for families with children under 5 years old. Support women to return to work and the labor market after giving birth. Expand childcare services at public kindergartens from 6 months to 5 years old. Prioritize childcare costs and admission to public kindergartens for families with two children, open low-cost after-school education services...

Ho Chi Minh City also proposed that the Ministry of Health include the content in the draft Population Law.Each couple has the right to decide the number of children.or allow the birth of a third child in areas with low birth rates; do not consider discipline or reduce annual emulation evaluations for cadres, civil servants, and public employees who have a third child or more.

The city's birth rate is currently 1.33 children per woman of childbearing age., very low compared to the country's replacement fertility rate of 2.1 children. Over the past 20 years, the city's total fertility rate has continuously decreased, from 1.76 to 1.33 children. Mr. Le Van Thanh - former head of the socio-cultural research department, Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies, is concerned that with the current seriously low fertility rate, if there are no intervention measures, the fertility rate will decrease even further.

According to Ms. Le, the reason for the continuous decline in birth rates is due to the pressure of life and work. Therefore, there is a trend of late marriage, late childbirth, few children and not wanting to have children. Raising and caring for children today requires a lot of expenses such as food, education, health care, entertainment...

Rapid urbanization and economic development also put pressure on families in search of jobs, housing, and living expenses. Improved education levels, living conditions, trendy lifestyles, and a hedonistic and mobile mentality also have an impact on low birth rates. Abortion rates and the increasing rates of primary and secondary infertility also prevent many families from having children.

According to Ms. Le, currently each family has only one child with the 4-2-1 formula, that is,a child is cared for by two parents and four grandparents.In the future, we will face a disaster according to the reverse formula 1-2-4, meaning a child will have to take care of two parents and four grandparents at the same time.

"Children who are carefully cared for by six adults are likely to lack the ability and skills to care for six elderly people in the future," Ms. Le analyzed. Low birth rates cause rapid population aging, creating increasing pressure on the social security system for the elderly, a decline in human resources, especially young workers, affecting socio-economic development.

Experience in some countries shows that once the birth rate drops to a very low level, the policies to promote birth, although very costly, have almost no impact on increasing the birth rate again. Over the past 20 years, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore have implemented many strong solutions to promote birth but have not been successful, the total birth rate of these countries cannot exceed 1.3 children.