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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent

Vietnam scraps two-child policy as it tackles falling birthrate

a family with two children on a motorbike
Vietnam’s birthrate fell to a record low of 1.91 children per woman in 2024, which is below replacement level. Photograph: Nhac Nguyen/AFP/Getty Images

Vietnam has scrapped a longstanding policy limiting families to two children, as the communist-run country grapples with a declining birthrate.

State media announced on Wednesday that couples could make their own decisions about how many children to have, and how much time to wait between births, reversing a decades-old preference for one- or two-child families.

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