A couple takes wedding photos by the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi in 2022. Photo by Read/Pham Chieu
The Hanoi People’s Committee has issued a comprehensive plan to implement the city’s population and development program for 2026, which includes the establishment of social clubs and matchmaking models designed to help unmarried young adults form relationships.
This initiative specifically encourages marriage before the age of 30 and seeks to address the trend of late marriage in the capital. By creating spaces for young people to get acquainted, the city aims to eventually stabilize the total fertility rate and support the broader national goal of having two children per family.
A significant portion of the roadmap focuses on measurable health and demographic targets. The city intends to raise the average life expectancy of its residents to 76.8 years and ensure that a vast majority of the elderly population, specifically 91%, receives regular health check-ups.
The plan aims to increase the average height of 18-year-old men and women by 0.3 cm compared to 2025 and provide premarital health counseling and check-ups to at least 87% of couples. These efforts are designed to improve the overall quality of human resources and address the challenges of an aging population.
Technological integration will play a vital role in achieving these objectives. Hanoi plans to apply artificial intelligence and big data to analyze demographic structures, simulate migration patterns, and forecast population shifts to better inform socio-economic development strategies.
These tools will assist managers and leaders at all levels in making data-driven decisions regarding urban planning and social services. Communication and education campaigns will also be stepped up to encourage behavior changes that support physical development and healthy lifestyles among all residents.
Recent data highlights the urgency of these interventions, as young people in Hanoi currently marry at an average age of 29.5 for men and between 26.2 and 27.9 for women, which are among the latest in the country. This trend has directly contributed to the city’s total fertility rate dropping to 1.86 children per woman, which is notably below the replacement level of 2.1.
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