Although her eldest child is now nearly 4 years old, Ms. Nguyen Kieu Linh (30 years old) - an office worker in Ha Dong district, Hanoi still has no intention of having additional children.
Sharing the reason, Ms. Linh said that the financial burden was the thing the couple worried most about when having more children.
"The cost of raising a child is quite expensive, at least 4 million VND per month. When my child starts going to school, I can spend all the months of my salary as a worker" - Ms. Linh worried.
From September 2025, public school students across the country will be exempted from tuition fees when going to school, Ms. Linh said that tuition fees at schools are not much cost. Tuition fees such as attending talent classes, English, eating... account for a lot of money.
The couple's total income is only about 23 million VND/month. This amount of money in Hanoi is almost gone after deducting all expenses.
In addition, the female employee said that taking care of her child takes a lot of time and is prone to stress. If she had another child at the present time, Ms. Linh would be even more pressured. Therefore, when their eldest child entered primary school, the couple continued to consider giving birth.
"When my child grew up and entered grade 1, he was basically aware of many problems and took care of himself, so I had more time to take care of my second child" - Ms. Linh said.
Whether or not he has enough and stable finances to take care of his children is also a concern that makes Mr. Tran Ngoc Nguyen (30 years old, Nam Dinh) hesitant to have more children. Currently, Mr. Nguyen has 2 daughters and wants to have a third child, a son.
Mr. Nguyen said that both husband and wife are currently workers, earning more than 20 million VND/month. However, the children's living and studying expenses have also accounted for nearly half.
"The tuition fee for the two children in class alone is 2.5 million VND per month, even in their hometown. Additional tuition, boarding meals, clothes, books, milk and food are simply 6 - 7 million VND per month, not to mention that every time I am sick, it is very expensive" - Mr. Nguyen said.
The male worker shared that when his child was sick, he had to take a bus to Hanoi for examination and medicine, the amount of money paid each time was not less than 5 million VND. This is what parents are most worried about, both spending money and having to take a leave of absence, affecting their income.
Talking about the remaining amount in total income, Mr. Nguyen said that he still has to calculate very carefully to pay for daily living and pay off the house construction debt. Therefore, Mr. Nguyen plans to consider having a third child in the new year.
"It is expected that by mid-2025, my wife and I will pay off all our debts and start saving money. So the earliest time to have a third child is in mid-2026" - Mr. Nguyen said.
Discussing some proposed policies to support workers to have more children, Mr. Nguyen said that it is quite practical but still does not ease economic pressure on many young workers today, especially in big cities.
In the draft Population Law that is seeking public opinion, the Ministry of Health proposes a series of groups of policies, in which the Ministry proposes to increase maternity leave for women giving birth to a second child from 6 months to 7 months; create conditions for women giving birth to 2 children in industrial parks, export processing zones and provinces and cities with low fertility rates to be supported to rent and buy social housing.
On the other hand, deciding not to discipline Party members who have a third child or more is one of the contents to maintain replacement fertility, avoiding further decline in fertility.
The Ministry of Health said that the national birth rate is tending to decrease below the replacement rate, from 2.11 children/woman (2021) to 2.01 children/woman (2022), 1.96 children/woman (2023) and 1.91 children/woman (2024) - the lowest in history and is forecast to continue to decrease in the following years.
