From January 1, 2026, the retirement age under normal working conditions will continue to increase according to the roadmap of the Labor Code. Specifically, male workers retire at the age of 61 years and 6 months, female workers at the age of 57. Every year after that, the retirement age for men increased by 3 months until reaching the age of 62; for women increased by 4 months each year, reaching the age of 60 in 2035.
The Law on Teachers, effective from the same time, has added regulations allowing teachers to retire earlier or later than the general age. For preschool teachers, if they wish, they can retire early but not more than 5 years older than the regulations. In case of having paid 15 years or more of social insurance, the pension rate will not be deducted.
Accordingly, from 2026, male preschool teachers will be 56 years and 6 months old and female preschool teachers will be 52 years old, if they meet the conditions for social insurance payment, they can retire and still have their pension calculated as the correct age. With 15 years of social insurance contributions, the benefit level for female teachers is 45% and for male teachers is 40% of the average salary used as the basis for contributions.
In public educational institutions, highly qualified teachers such as doctors, associate professors, professors or working in specialized and specific fields can retire later if the unit has a need, individuals volunteer and are healthy enough. The duration shall not exceed 5 years for doctors, 7 years for associate professors and 10 years for professors; those who retire late shall not hold management positions. Thus, in 2026, the maximum retirement age can reach 71 years and 6 months for male professors and 67 years for female professors.
According to the current Law on Social Insurance, people who retire before the normal age will have their benefit rate deducted by 2% for each year of early retirement; early retirement under 6 months is not deducted, from 6 months to under 12 months is deducted by 1%. However, preschool teachers who retire early under the Law on Teachers do not apply this deduction.
In addition to the group of teachers, the Law on Social Insurance also allows some cases to retire earlier or later than the prescribed age. People with a reduced working capacity of 61% to less than 81% can retire no more than 5 years early, but will have their benefit rate deducted up to 10%. People with a decrease of over 81%, underground coal miners or HIV/AIDS infected due to occupational accidents are allowed to retire up to 10 years early if they have paid 15 years of social insurance.
This policy also applies to people working in particularly arduous, toxic, dangerous jobs or working in particularly difficult areas; armed forces such as the police, army, cryptography, and regular militia are allowed to retire earlier, not exceeding the age of 56 years and 6 months for men and 52 years for women, unless otherwise provided by specialized laws.
Currently, the whole country has nearly 3.4 million people receiving monthly pensions and social insurance benefits, with an average pension in 2024 of nearly 7 million VND/person/month.
