Mr. Pham Truong Giang - Director of the Department of Social Insurance, Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, member of the Drafting Committee, Head of the Editorial Team of the Law on Social Insurance (amended) - provided the above information at the Conference on dissemination and implementation of the Trade Union Law 2024 and the Law on Social Insurance 2024 organized by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor on the morning of February 5.
Mr. Pham Truong Giang said that the average number of retirees used to be around 99,000 to 100,000 people per year. However, since Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW (on reforming social insurance policies) came into effect and the retirement age was institutionalized in the 2019 Labor Code, the number of new retirees has dropped to 77,000 people per year.
According to statistics, the average life expectancy of pensioners is about 78 years old, 4-5 years higher than the average life expectancy of the whole country. "This shows that people with pensions have a better quality of life, better health care and a longer life expectancy," said Mr. Giang.
According to Mr. Giang, through the summary of the Social Insurance Law 2014, there are still gaps in the coverage of social insurance policies. Accordingly, there are about 8 million elderly people who have not yet received monthly policies, leading to extremely difficult lives. The Social Insurance Law 2024 aims to cover these remaining 8 million people, achieving the goal set by Resolution 28, which is to move towards universal social insurance.
Mr. Giang also said that Vietnam has the fastest aging population in the world. He stated that in 2025, for every 6 people of working age (from 15-59 years old), there will be only 1 person of non-working age. But by 2055, two people of working age will have to support 1 person of non-working age.
"If we maintain this speed and benefit level without any reform, by 2055, to maintain the current benefit level, there are only two ways: Children and grandchildren must pay social insurance at a rate 3 times higher than the current level; reform so that the current generation has a suitable benefit level so that the burden is not borne by future generations," said Mr. Giang.
Informing about the main contents related to workers' rights, Mr. Giang said that the Social Insurance Law 2024 has added social pension benefits to form a multi-layered social insurance system.
Accordingly, the Social Insurance Law 2024 lowers the age of receiving social pension benefits from 80 to 75 years old, and for some subjects to 70 years old; and raises the benefit level to 500,000 VND/person/month from July 1, 2025. Most importantly, people aged 75 and over who do not have a pension, in addition to receiving 500,000 VND/month, will also receive a health insurance card from the State budget for medical examination and treatment.
"It is forecasted that about 1.2 million elderly people aged 75 and over will enjoy this policy from July 1, 2025 when the Social Insurance Law 2024 takes effect," said Mr. Giang.
In addition, Mr. Giang said, the Social Insurance Law 2024 also increases the rights of employees by expanding the subjects participating in compulsory social insurance to 5 groups of subjects; adding maternity benefits to the voluntary social insurance policy; increasing the opportunity to retire at the right age for those who participate in social insurance late...
