Elderly people in Vietnam are benefiting from numerous support policies aimed at ensuring social welfare. However, there are still many challenges in improving their quality of life.
Overview of Elderly Support Policies
According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, funds for social assistance policies for the elderly are allocated according to the current budget. The Law on Elderly People in 2009 and Decree 20/2021/ND-CP clearly outline the preferential benefits for this group.
Elderly citizens receiving monthly pensions (Photo: Ngô Hùng)
Specifically, individuals aged 80 and above who do not receive monthly pensions or social insurance benefits will be entitled to a monthly social allowance of 360,000 VND. In 2023, the total funding for social assistance reached over 28 trillion VND, with more than 2.4 trillion VND dedicated to purchasing health insurance cards for about 1.5 million elderly people.
Current Status of Social Insurance Benefits
Currently, around 2.7 million elderly people nationwide are receiving monthly pensions and social insurance benefits. Specifically:
- 2.2 million people are receiving pensions
- Over 478,000 people are receiving social insurance benefits
- 14.6 million elderly people have health insurance cards
However, statistics show that up to 73% of elderly people do not receive monthly pensions or social insurance benefits. This forces many to continue working despite declining health.
Current Challenges
Despite existing support policies, the lives of the elderly remain difficult:
- The poverty rate among the elderly is 23.5%
- The level of social assistance remains low
- Many elderly people in poor and near-poor households are not receiving assistance
- Some localities have not yet implemented appropriate support policies
Many elderly people do not have pensions (Illustration: Minh Quang)
Solutions and Future Directions
To improve the lives of the elderly, the government has issued Decree 76/2024/ND-CP, amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decree 20/2021, which raises the social assistance standard to 500,000 VND per month. Additionally, many localities have proactively increased the social assistance standard and expanded the beneficiary base.
Ensuring long-term social security for the elderly requires further完善社保体系，扩大覆盖面并提高支持力度。加强宣传和动员民众参与社保也是重要的解决方案。
结论
越南对老年人的支持政策已经取得了一些显著进展，但仍需做更多工作以确保这一群体的社会保障。完善政策体系、提高支持水平和扩大社保覆盖范围是未来的重要任务。
来源：Dân trí
