A vendor waits for customers at a mat shop in Hanoi on October 11, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

HANOI — Vietnam's population is expected to increase to 107 million in 2044, before dropping to 72 million in 2100 due to low birth rates, local media VnExpress online newspaper reported Sunday, citing Ha Anh Duc, office head of the Ministry of Health.

Over the past few decades, Vietnam has seen birth rates dropping from 6.5 children per woman in the 1960s to 2.05 in 2020, he said, citing statistics that every year, there are an estimated one million couples in Vietnam who cannot have children biologically, accounting for around 7.7 percent of all couples.

Mai Trung Son from the Vietnam Population Authority said birth rates varied wildly between different Vietnamese localities

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Among them, around half are those aged below 30.

Mai Trung Son from the Vietnam Population Authority said birth rates varied wildly between different Vietnamese localities. Southern Ho Chi Minh city has the lowest birth rate among them, at only 1.39 children per woman in their reproductive age.

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In Vietnam, a draft for the Law on Population is proposing localities with low birth rates to provide financial support for women having a second child, as well as giving the children tuition exemptions, VnExpress reported.