Vietnam has scrapped its 37-year-old policy of limiting families to two children, as the country faces up to its ageing population and economic worries.

The southeast Asian nation was "one of the last holdouts among countries with population-control policies", said the The Washington Post , but now it's joining the global trend for population policies aimed at boosting births.

Shrinking population forecasts

In 1988, after years of war had left the nation with "limited resources", Vietnam introduced rules blocking families from having more than two children, said The Associated Press . Until then, the average number of births per woman in Vietnam was just under four.

The new rules, though loosely enforced, slowed birth rates and "encouraged late marriage", said The Washington Po

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