Hau Giang rewards families who have two daughters

From the beginning of 2019, Hau Giang province will implement population policy support in the area. Accordingly, authorities at all levels will reward and commend couples who have two children, both girls.

Specifically, the bonus with the Certificate of Merit from the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for a family of two children is equal to one time the basic salary of 1.3 million VND. The District People's Committee also awards the certificate of merit equal to 0.3 times the basic salary of 390,000 VND.

Localities that maintain the model of families having two children for 3 or 5 consecutive years will be rewarded with 3-25 million VND and a certificate of merit.

According to Hau Giang province leaders, the reward policy stems from the fact that the locality is experiencing a gender imbalance and is in the aging population stage. The province has earmarked nearly VND18 billion to reward families who have daughters and many children from 2019 to 2025 with the aim of promoting and encouraging the birth of daughters.

Over the past 5 years, the birth rate in Hau Giang has continuously decreased, currently reaching only 1.59 children/mother, a very low number compared to the Mekong Delta region of 1.8 children/mother. This rate in the whole country is 2.04 children/mother.

The birth rate of boys in Hau Giang is always higher than that of girls, with a rate of 103-107 boys/100 girls.

Since 2013, Hau Giang has entered the population aging phase. In 2013, the number of elderly people (aged 60 and over) accounted for 10%; in 2015, it was 12.4%; in 2017, it increased to 13.8% of the total population. The proportion of elderly people nationwide is currently 11% of the population.

The population sector predicts that if there is no intervention solution, by 2020, the proportion of elderly people in Hau Giang will be more than 20% and more than 45% by 2030.

Hau Giang province has a population of 770,000 people, of which more than 180,000 are women of childbearing age. Of these, 127,000 are married, but the rate of women who have not given birth is up to more than 40%.

Not only Hau Giang, Vietnam is entering the aging population stage due to low birth rate, gender imbalance due to higher male birth rate than female birth rate. The aging population creates many pressures on society such as lack of young labor force, burden of social security policies, single-parent families... Many birth promotion policies have been issued by the Ministry of Health such as encouraging having two or more children, allowing couples to decide on the number of children to have, rewarding the birth of girls, prohibiting gender selection of fetuses...