Retirement benefits are a stable source of income that is regularly adjusted by the state to ensure the livelihood of retirees

The longer and higher the contributions to social insurance, the higher the retirement benefits will be.

From 2016 to 2022, nearly 763,000 people nationwide received retirement benefits (an average of about 109,000 people per year). Of these, about 420,000 people received a 75% retirement benefit, accounting for 55.2% of those who received retirement benefits. Currently, Vietnam Social Security (VSS) is paying retirement benefits to about 2.7 million people. Of this total, most people receive between 3 and 7 million VND per month, with nearly 1.9 million people receiving this amount (accounting for 68.3% of the total number of people receiving retirement benefits nationwide). Moreover, many cases receive high retirement benefits due to their high salaries and incomes used as the basis for social insurance contributions (according to regulations, workers can contribute up to 20 times the basic salary at each period).

In addition to monthly retirement benefits, workers also receive free health insurance cards during their retirement to enjoy healthcare benefits and services, with a coverage rate of 95% paid by the Health Insurance Fund. In fact, social insurance agencies have paid hundreds of millions, even billions of VND for medical expenses of retirees who suffer from serious illnesses or poverty.

Workers can be assured knowing their retirement benefits are regularly adjusted to ensure their livelihood

The retirement benefit amount is not fixed at the time of retirement but is periodically adjusted according to the consumer price index and economic growth rate, in line with the state budget and the social insurance fund to ensure the livelihood of retirees. From 2016 to 2022, the Government has adjusted retirement benefits and monthly social insurance subsidies five times, with corresponding adjustment rates of 8% (in 2016), 7.44% (in 2017), 6.92% (in 2018), 7.19% (in 2019), and 7.4% (in 2022) of the current retirement benefit amount. Despite the economic difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the retirement benefit was still adjusted at a rate of 7.4% from January 1, 2022. Specifically, for retirees before January 1, 1995, after the adjustment according to regulations (7.4%), those with low retirement benefit amounts continue to be adjusted (an additional increase of 200,000 VND for those with a monthly retirement benefit of 2.3 million VND or less; an increase of 2.5 million VND for those with a monthly retirement benefit from 2.3 million VND to less than 2.5 million VND).

For example, Ms. Nguyen Thi A is a teacher who contributed to social insurance for 33 years and 11 months, and started receiving retirement benefits from August 2014 with a benefit amount of 4.932 million VND. Through five adjustments to retirement benefits from 2016 to now, Ms. A's retirement benefit amount has been 7.044 million VND/month since January 2022.

Illustrative image (VSS)

In addition, the legal system for social and health insurance policies is increasingly being improved to be more suitable for the country's socio-economic development, and to ensure the rights and benefits of participants in general and retirees in particular. Currently, according to regulations, the minimum years of social insurance contribution to receive retirement benefits is 20 years, which leads to many workers having short participation time and not having enough years of social insurance contributions to receive retirement benefits. To address this issue, the draft Law on Social Insurance proposes to reduce the minimum years of social insurance contributions from 20 years to 15 years to create conditions for workers who participate late or have short participation time to access and receive social insurance benefits; and to supplement maternity allowances to increase attractiveness, attract voluntary participation in social insurance, and create conditions for people to participate voluntarily...

It can be affirmed that the National Assembly and the Government always pay attention and timely issue appropriate policies to ensure the livelihood of retirees. Therefore, workers can completely trust and participate, accumulate social insurance contributions to meet the conditions for receiving retirement benefits - a secure "backbone" for their livelihood in old age./.