Vietnamese men get married for the first time 4 years later than women

The 2024 mid-term population and housing census announced by the General Statistics Office on January 6 showed that the average first marriage age of Vietnamese people is getting later and later, increasing by 2.1 years compared to 2019. Male Men get married at the average age of 29.4, 4.2 years later than women at age 25.2. Women in urban areas get married significantly later, on average 26.8 years old compared to 24.1 years old 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 exceeding many other provinces. This number has tended to increase continuously since 2019, increasing by 0.7 years on average each year.

Master Pham Chanh Trung, Director of the Department of Population and Family Planning in Ho Chi Minh City, said that studies have recorded that more and more people are choosing to live a single life, not marrying or having children due to financial difficulties. , wanting to pursue a career, longing for freedom. In addition, young people are not interested in getting married due to the influence of broken family stories and not being able to find an ideal role model…

While the age of marriage increases, Vietnam’s fertility rate decreases from 1.96 children per woman in 2023 to 1.91 children in 2024 – lower than the replacement level. The fertility rate in urban areas is only 1.67 children, significantly lower than that in rural areas (2.08 children). The disparity between economic regions is clear, with high fertility rates in the Northern Midlands and Mountains and the Red River Delta (2.34 children), the Central Highlands (2.24 children), but the lowest in the Southeast (1.48 fish) and Mekong Delta (1.62 fish).

Experts believe that increasing marriage age and decreasing birth rate will accelerate the aging process of the population in Vietnam.

In addition to the figures on marriage age, the statistical agency also announced that in the period 2019-2024, people’s health improved when The death rate of children under one and five years old decreased, and the average life expectancy increased. Specifically, the death rate for children under one year of age decreased from 16 to 11.3 per 1,000 live births; The death rate for children under 5 years old decreased from 21 to 16.9. However, this rate in rural areas is still nearly twice higher than in urban areas. The Central Highlands recorded the highest mortality rate for children under 5 years old, with 26.7 children per 1,000 live births.

The average life expectancy of people 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 persisted for many years, causing serious consequences despite intervention policies.

The mid-term survey is the basis for socio-economic assessment of the period 2021-2025, policy planning for the years 2026-2030 and monitoring of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.