Vietnamese families traditionally centered around extended families, but are becoming more nuclear as household sizes shrink. The average household size fell from 5.22 people in 1979 to 3.8 in 2009 due to successful birth control campaigns, changing attitudes toward family size, declining fertility rates, and fewer generations living together. Other trends include rising divorce rates and single-person households, as well as an increased life expectancy bringing the total to 76 years by 2013. The Vietnamese government supports families through housing assistance, utility subsidies, cash allowances for mothers, student loans, job training, employment programs, and other social services.

1. Family & Welfare
in Vietnam
By Van Tran

2. Table of content
• Introduction about Vietnamese family
• Demographic trends in family life
• Forms of support
• Reference

3. Introduction
• Marriage plays an important role in creating
families in Vietnam
• Most Vietnamese families are nuclear families.
• Newly-wed couples tend to live with the groom’s
parents after weddings.
• In the North, parents live with their oldest son
whereas in the South, they usually live with their
youngest son.

4. In traditional agricultural society, a big number of
offspring is a symbol of a happy family, having
many children means lots of fortune. As a result, in
the early last century, when analyzing Vietnam’s
traditional society, Gourou wrote: “…it is certain
that Vietnamese women give birth to as many
children as they can. Getting married early, often
before 20, they continuously give birth until
menopause period” (Gourou, 2003:175)

5. DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS IN
FAMILY LIFE

6. 5.22
4.84
4.61
3.8 3.7
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
1979 1989 1999 2009 2013
Household size (person)
Household size (person)
Figure 1 – Household size from 1979 to 2013

7. • Family size tends to shrink due to
several reasons:
- Birth control campaign was successful,
- People’s demand about the number of
children has changed (See Table 1)
- The decline of fertility rate (See Figure 2)
- The transformation in the model of
generations living together

8. Table 1 - Couples’ expected number of children (person)
Researched regions Expected number of children
All the regions 2.48
Urban 2.3
Plain 2.53
Midlands-Mountains 2.48

9. Figure 2 – Total fertility rate (children per woman)

10. Figure 3 – Single households
7.00%
7.10%
7.20%
7.30%
7.40%
7.50%
7.60%
7.70%
7.80%
2011 2012 2013
7.30%
7.50%
7.80%
Single households
• Single households tend to increase

11. Divorce cases from 2000 - 2003
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2005
51,361
54,226 56,478
41,326
65,929
Divorce cases

12. Life expectancy
• From 1999 – 2013, increase from age 71
to age 76
• Life expectancy at birth:
- total population: 72.91 years
- male: 70.44 years
- female: 75.65 years (2014 est.)

13. Forms of support
• Housing support
• Electricity bill support
• Cash allowance to maternity women of minority
group
• Loans to students, employees, families
• Vocational training
• Employment
• Non-monetary support

14. Reference
• General Statistics Office
• The trend of Vietnamese household size in recent years
(Nguyen Thanh Binh, 2011)
• Vietnam Analysis of Social Protection (Florence Bonnet,
Michael Cichon, Carlos Galian, Gintare Mazelkaite and
Valérie Schmitt, 2012)
• Vietnam Government Decrees
• http://thuvienphapluat.vn/
• THE 1/4/2013 TIME-POINT POPULATION CHANGE
AND FAMILY PLANNING SURVEY: MAJOR FINDING