Vietnam plans to raise retirement age to 62 for men and 60 for women

The retirement age in Vietnam is expected to increase to 62 for men and 60 for women under proposals put forward by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

The retirement age for women will increase from 55 to 60. (Photo: Duy Linh)
The retirement age for women will increase from 55 to 60. (Photo: Duy Linh)

The current retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women.

In the first option, the retirement age will be hiked to 60 years and 3 months for men and 55 years and 4 months for women starting from January 1, 2021.

The retirement age then will rise by 3 months and 4 months each year for men and women, respectively, until it reaches 62 for men and 60 for women.

In the second option, the added months to the retirement age each year will be 4 for men and 6 for women.

Under the draft revised Labour Code, early retirement will not exceed five years for those with reduced working capacity or those working in dangerous conditions or doing physically demanding jobs.

Those with a high degree of expertise, working in leadership roles and in a number of special cases can retire no more than 5 years later than the normal retirement age.

According to the Labour Code’s editing board, raising the retirement age is a necessary move in line with Vietnam’s changing demographics.

The ratio of the working age population is decreasing, the ratio of dependants is rising, while the average lifespan for Vietnamese people has also increased, currently 71.1 years in men and 81.3 years in women.

According to the General Statistics Office, the number of people entering the job market has been growing at a slower speed in recent years. In 2013, Vietnam had 53 million workers but five years later the figure had only increased by a mere 2 million to 55 million.

Therefore, raising the retirement age is considered necessary to prevent a labour shortage in the next 20 years as a result of an aging population.

The gradual increase of several months a year is designed to prevent shock in the labour market, said the Labour Code’s editors, noting that abrupt hikes could lead to increased unemployment and social instability.