Vietnamese people are getting married for the first time later and later, with men averaging over 29 years old and women over 25 years old.
The 2024 mid-term population and housing census, announced by the General Statistics Office on January 6, showed that the average age of first marriage among Vietnamese people is getting later, up 2.1 years compared to 2019.
Men marry at an average age of 29.4, 4.2 years later than women at 25.2. Urban women marry significantly later, at an average age of 26.8 compared to 24.1 in rural areas.
In July 2024, the General Statistics Office also announced that the average age of first marriage in Ho Chi Minh City was 30.4 - the highest in the country, far surpassing many other provinces and cities. This number has been on a continuous upward trend since 2019, increasing by an average of 0.7 years each year.
Master Pham Chanh Trung, Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Population and Family Planning, said that studies have shown that more and more people are choosing to stay single, not marry, or have children due to financial difficulties, wanting to pursue a career, and craving freedom.
In addition, young people are not interested in getting married due to the influence of broken family stories and not finding an ideal model...
While the age of marriage increases, Vietnam's fertility rate will fall from 1.96 children per woman in 2023 to 1.91 children in 2024 - below replacement level. The urban fertility rate will be only 1.67 children, significantly lower than that in rural areas (2.08 children).
The difference between economic regions is clear, with high birth rates in the Northern Midlands and Mountains and the Red River Delta (2.34 children), the Central Highlands (2.24 children), but lowest in the Southeast (1.48 children) and the Mekong Delta (1.62 children).
Experts say that increasing marriage age and decreasing birth rate will accelerate the aging process of population in Vietnam.
In addition to the figures on marriage age, the statistics agency also announced that in the period 2019-2024, people's health improved when Infant mortality rate decreased, average life expectancy increased.
Specifically, the infant mortality rate decreased from 16 to 11.3 per 1,000 live births; the under-five mortality rate decreased from 21 to 16.9. However, this rate in rural areas is still nearly twice as high as in urban areas. The Central Highlands recorded the highest mortality rate for children under 5, with 26.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Average life expectancy increased by 1.1 years, reaching 74.7 years, of which men were 72.3 years old and women were 77.3 years old.
The sex ratio at birth continues to be unbalanced, reaching 111.4 boys/100 girls, much higher than the natural level of 106 boys/100 girls. This situation has lasted for many years, causing serious consequences despite intervention policies.
The mid-term survey is the basis for assessing the socio-economic situation for the 2021-2025 period, formulating policies for the 2026-2030 period, and monitoring the United Nations' sustainable development goals.
TB (according to VnExpress)