IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v54y2026i22.html

The impact of household structure on fertility: A study in Vietnam

Author

Listed:
  • Khoa Nguyen

    (Can Tho University)

  • Tuyen Duong

    (Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Company, Can Tho)

Abstract

Background: A declining fertility rate and aging population are major challenges for Vietnam. Methods: This study utilizes panel data from the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey, conducted from 2008 to 2016, tracking 1,200 households over nine years. A fixed effects model was employed to control for unobserved factors, such as cultural traditions and fertility motivations, thereby addressing endogeneity issues commonly encountered in previous research. Results: The results indicate that the presence of grandparent(s) in a household has a positive impact on the number of children born (particularly when both grandparents are present), with estimates ranging from 0.0771 (95% CI: 0.0175 to 0.1368) for both grandparents to 0.1373 (95% CI: 0.0824 to 0.1922) overall. This effect is especially prominent in the Central Highlands and the Northern Midlands/Mountainous Area. In contrast, the effect is less pronounced in the Mekong River Delta, likely due to socioeconomic factors and data limitations. Contribution: This study highlights the importance of household structure in shaping fertility behavior and provides policy recommendations to support multigenerational households and promote sustainable fertility rates in Vietnam.

Suggested Citation

  • Khoa Nguyen & Tuyen Duong, 2026. "The impact of household structure on fertility: A study in Vietnam," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 54(22), pages 677-718.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:54:y:2026:i:22
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2026.54.22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol54/22/54-22.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2026.54.22?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Soo-Yeon Yoon, 2017. "The influence of a supportive environment for families on women’s fertility intentions and behavior in South Korea," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(7), pages 227-254.
    2. Arnstein Aassve & Elena Meroni & Chiara Pronzato, 2012. "Grandparenting and Childbearing in the Extended Family," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 28(4), pages 499-518, November.
    3. Kristin Snopkowski & Rebecca Sear, 2016. "Does grandparental help mediate the relationship between kin presence and fertility?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(17), pages 467-498.
    4. Anh P. Ngo, 2020. "Effects of Vietnam’s two-child policy on fertility, son preference, and female labor supply," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 751-794, July.
    5. Liat Raz-Yurovich, 2014. "A Transaction Cost Approach to Outsourcing by Households," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 40(2), pages 293-309, June.
    6. Weiren Wang & Felix Famoye, 1997. "Modeling household fertility decisions with generalized Poisson regression," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 10(3), pages 273-283.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Ye & Zhao, Xindong, 2022. "Grandparental childcare, maternal labor force participation, and the birth of a second child: Further knowledge from empirical analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 762-770.
    2. Menghan Zhao & Yang Zhang, 2019. "Parental childcare support, sibship status and mothers’ second-child plans in urban China," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(47), pages 1315-1346.
    3. Ester Lazzari & Valeria Zurla, 2024. "The Effect of Parental Caregiving on the Fertility Expectations of Adult Children," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 40(1), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Jing Zhang & Tom Emery, 2023. "Grandparental childcare and second births in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(6), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Eibich, Peter & Siedler, Thomas, 2020. "Retirement, intergenerational time transfers, and fertility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    6. Daniela Boca & Daniela Piazzalunga & Chiara Pronzato, 2018. "The role of grandparenting in early childcare and child outcomes," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 477-512, June.
    7. Greene, William, 2007. "Functional Form and Heterogeneity in Models for Count Data," Foundations and Trends(R) in Econometrics, now publishers, vol. 1(2), pages 113-218, August.
    8. Ajiferuke, Isola & Famoye, Felix, 2015. "Modelling count response variables in informetric studies: Comparison among count, linear, and lognormal regression models," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 499-513.
    9. Deng, Yue & Zhou, Yuqian & Hu, Dezhuang, 2023. "Grandparental childcare and female labor market behaviors: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Tindara Addabbo & Marco Fuscaldo & Anna Maccagnan, 2014. "Care and the capability of living a healthy life in a gender perspective," Department of Economics 0042, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    11. Edoardo Frattola, 2023. "Parental retirement and fertility decisions across family policy regimes," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1417, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    12. Bredl, Sebastian, 2012. "Child Quality and Child Quantity: Evidence from Bolivian Household Surveys," VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century 62065, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Stefano Mainardi, 2003. "Testing convergence in life expectancies: count regression models on panel data," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2003(4), pages 350-370.
    14. Federico H. Gutierrez, 2022. "The inter-generational fertility effect of an abortion ban," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 307-348, January.
    15. Carallo, Giulia & Casarin, Roberto & Robert, Christian P., 2024. "Generalized Poisson difference autoregressive processes," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 1359-1390.
    16. Wolfgang Frimmel & Martin Halla & Bernhard Schmidpeter & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2022. "Grandmothers’ Labor Supply," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(5), pages 1645-1689.
    17. Pei, Yaolin & Cong, Zhen & Wu, Bei, 2020. "Education, adult children's education, and depressive symptoms among older adults in rural China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    18. Sara Cools & Rannveig Kaldager Hart, 2015. "The effect of childhood family size on fertility in adulthood. New evidence form IV estimation," Discussion Papers 802, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    19. Miyazawa, Kazutoshi, 2016. "Grandparental child care, child allowances, and fertility," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 53-60.
    20. Pablo Brañas-Garza & Shoshana Neuman, 2007. "Parental religiosity and daughters’ fertility: the case of Catholics in southern Europe," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 305-327, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:54:y:2026:i:22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.