Ms. Nguyen Thi Chuyen in Ninh Binh province said that she started working in the education sector in 1988, teaching at a semi-public kindergarten.
From September 1999 to 2002, she participated in voluntary social insurance; then switched to continuously paying compulsory social insurance from 2002 to now. Currently, if she wants to retire early, how will her pension be calculated?
Regarding this, BHXH replied: The conditions for retirement to receive a pension are specified in Clause 1, Article 64 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance. Accordingly, employees participating in compulsory social insurance when retiring must have a compulsory social insurance contribution period of 15 years or more and be of retirement age as prescribed.
The retirement age in 2026 in normal working conditions continues to be implemented according to the regulated retirement age increase roadmap.
According to Vietnam Social Security, if employees have a total compulsory social insurance contribution period of 15 years or more and work in heavy, hazardous, dangerous or especially heavy, hazardous, dangerous professions or work in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions (including working time in places with regional allowances with a coefficient of 0.7 or higher before January 1, 2021), they can retire at a maximum of 5 years earlier than the retirement age in normal working conditions.
In addition, employees may retire earlier if they have reduced working capacity as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 65 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance:
Employees with compulsory social insurance contributions for 20 years or more, if their working capacity is reduced from 61% to less than 81%, can retire a maximum of 5 years earlier.
In case of labor capacity reduction of 81% or more, they can retire a maximum of 10 years earlier than the prescribed retirement age.
The monthly pension level is specified in Article 66 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance.
For female workers, the pension level is calculated at 45% of the average salary used as the basis for social insurance contributions corresponding to 15 years of social insurance contributions. After that, for each additional year of social insurance contributions, the benefit rate is added by 2%, the maximum level is 75%.
For male workers, the pension level is calculated at 45% of the average salary used as the basis for social insurance contributions corresponding to 20 years of social insurance contributions. After that, each additional year of contribution is added 2%, the maximum level is 75%.
In case male workers have a social insurance contribution period of 15 years to less than 20 years, the monthly pension level is equal to 40% of the average salary used as the basis for social insurance contributions corresponding to 15 years of social insurance contributions, then for each additional year of contribution, an additional 1% is calculated.
Vietnam Social Security noted that for employees who retire early due to reduced working capacity according to Article 65 of the 2024 Social Insurance Law, the pension level is still calculated according to a common formula. However, after that, for each year of early retirement, the benefit rate will be reduced by 2%.
This deduction applies throughout the pension benefit process, so employees need to carefully consider the benefits of early retirement and the long-term pension income level.
