Hanoi plans incentives to encourage young people to marry earlier

The plan, signed by vice-chairwoman Vu Thu Ha, insists on maintaining the replacement fertility rate, reducing gender imbalance at birth, enhancing human resource quality, and improving elderly healthcare in response to an aging population.

The Vietnamese capital set specific targets for 2026, including raising the birth rate by 0.4 per thousand compared to 2025, achieving an average life expectancy of 76.8 years, and ensuring 91 percent of elderly residents receive regular health check-ups.

The gender ratio at birth is expected not to exceed 109.8 boys per 100 girls.

Health screening goals are also included with 86 percent of pregnant women being tested for four major conditions, namely Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome, Patau syndrome, and Thalassemia.

Meanwhile, 91 percent of newborns will be screened for five congenital diseases, including hypothyroidism, Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, adrenal hyperplasia, congenital hearing loss, and congenital heart disease.

The plan also sets targets to increase the average height of 18-year-old youth by 0.3 centimeters compared to 2025, ensure 87 percent of couples receive counseling and health checks before marriage, and expand the use of new contraceptive methods to more than 403,000 people.

To achieve these goals, Hanoi will intensify public campaigns with diverse and engaging formats tailored to different communities.

The city will organize youth-focused events, establish clubs to help unmarried individuals connect, and promote models encouraging couples to have two children before the age of 35.

Significantly, the plan calls for reviewing and issuing supportive policies to encourage early marriage and childbirth, ensuring couples have two children before age 35.

Additional measures will provide support for pregnant women and mothers, along with incentives and recognition for families who comply with population policies.