A year after scrapping its longstanding two-child limit, Vietnam enacted its first Population Law on Wednesday, aiming to encourage childbirth amid rapid aging and falling fertility.
The new law and related regulations introduced a range of measures, including wider financial assistance, longer maternity and paternity leave, and expanded healthcare support for families with newborns.
Under the new rules, eligible women giving birth from July 1 will receive a minimum subsidy of 2 million Vietnamese dong ($76). Beneficiaries include women from very small ethnic minority groups, those living in areas with below-replacement fertility rates, and women who have two children before the age of 35.
Female employees who give birth to a second child are now entitled to seven months of maternity leave, up from six months, while paternity leave has doubled to 10 working days. Subsidies for prenatal and newborn screening will be available to eligible groups from this month, before expanding nationwide in January.
"This is a significant shift in approach," Pham Thi Lan, head of population and development at the United Nations Population Fund in Vietnam, told AFP.
