According to data collected by the Vietnam Living Standards Survey 1992-93, total fertility was 3.2. This level is low for such a poor country, and reflects a continued fall from 5.6 in 1979, uninterrupted by the rapid transition from a planned to a market economy. Oddly, the proximate causes of the low total fertility, including contraceptive user and abortion rates, imply a value close to 2. One explanation may be that households overstate the degree to which they use contraception. To maintain the momentum of falling fertility, a more user-oriented approach to family planning is required, offering a wider variety of contraceptive options.