Vietnam to Extend Retirement Age by 2 Years for Men, 5 Years for Women

(Bloomberg) -- Vietnam will gradually extend the retirement age for men by two years and for women by five years over the next decade as part of the government’s amendment to its Labor Code.

Men can work until 62 by 2028 and women until 60 by 2035 from the current retirement age of 60 for males and 55 for females, the government said on its website.

Under the amendments approved by the National Assembly on Wednesday, the retirement age will increase by 3 months annually for men and by 4 months each year for women starting 2021. The changes were made as Vietnam’s population is maturing at a faster pace than some of its peers.

The nation’s elderly citizens are expected to double to 14% of the population in about 17 years and the country could become an aged society in 2035, according to a statement of the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the World Bank in August. It took Singapore 22 years and Thailand 20 years to reach the threshold for a country’s population to be considered aged.

The number of people joining Vietnam’s work force has dropped by more than half to about 400,000 each year from an average of 1 million in the past, local newspaper Tuoi Tre reported citing Bui Sy Loi from the committee on social affairs of the National Assembly.

--With assistance from Thuy Ong.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mai Ngoc Chau in Ho Chi Minh City at cmai9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Clarissa Batino at cbatino@bloomberg.net, Ruth Pollard

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.