HCMC youth marrying later than ever

While HCMC’s average marriage age has always been the highest out of all Vietnamese localities, this is the first time that it had exceeded 30, according to data issued by the General Statistics Office in July. The figure has been steadily rising since 2019, by about 0.7 years every year on average.

Vietnam’s average age of marriage has also been rising over the same time period, and is currently at 27.2.

Pham Chanh Trung, head of the HCMC Population and Family Planning Branch, said studies regularly reveal that an increasing number of young people want to pursue a single, unmarried, childless life due to financial difficulties, career advancement goals, or simply a desire for freedom. However, more studies would be needed to determine why exactly young people in HCMC are getting married later in life.

“In a positive light, late marriages show that young people now make preparations regarding their finances and career, and take into consideration their responsibilities once they get married,” Trung said, adding that these factors would likely mean that their children would be better cared for and educated thanks to this generation’s ability to invest more material wealth into their children compared to their predecessors.

On the other hand, getting married late is also a leading cause of troubling low birth rate and quickly aging population in HCMC. The average number of children a woman bears in HCMC is 1.32, lower than last year’s 1.42 and much lower than Vietnam’s replacement birth rate of at least two children per woman.

HCMC’s population is also aging quickly, with over 1.1 million people aged over 60, accounting for 12.5% of the population. The figure was 11% last year, and even less than 10% in some previous years.

The problem is that aging populations place burdens on social security system for the elderly, including pensions and medical insurance.

Low birth rates and a quickly aging population can also lead to a shrinking work and labor force, and an especially drying pool among young workers, which can have long-term impacts on socio-economic development.

HCMC authorities have been organizing conferences and dialogues about the negative impacts of low birth rates, while the HCMC Population and Family Planning Branch has proposed that the Department of Health issue measures like providing couples with two children financial aid support to pay for social housing, or medical support for couples giving birth to their second child.