Vietnam's government has ended its old rule that allowed families to have only two children. This rule started in 1988, but now couples can decide for themselves how many children they want, according to the Vietnam News Agency.The change comes because the number of babies being born in the country has gone down. Last year, on average, each woman had only about 1.91 children, which is below the number needed to keep the population steady, the health ministry said.

Vietnam is seeing fewer and fewer babies being born. The average number of children per woman dropped from 2.11 in 2021 to 1.96 in 2023. This drop is happening mostly in big, developed cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, where the cost of living is high and many young people are choosing not to have children. For example, 22-year-old Tran Minh Huong said she doesn’t want kids because raising them is too expensive. She added that instead of focusing only on how many children families have, the government should think about the bigger picture, like population growth and development.

There’s another issue too-Vietnam has more baby boys than girls being born. This is because of a long-time preference for sons. To stop people from choosing the baby’s gender before birth, the health ministry wants to raise the fine to $3,800. One mother, Hoang Thi Oanh, who has three children, said she’s glad the two-child rule is gone. But she also admitted that having more than two kids today is very difficult unless the parents are well-off. She thinks the government might even have to offer rewards to encourage bigger families.

Vietnam’s situation is a lot like China’s. China ended its one-child policy, but high costs of living still keep many families from having more kids. Vietnamese officials are finding it harder to get families to grow, even after changing the rules and running public awareness campaigns.