What age is suitable for health to retire?

Experts say that the average life expectancy of Vietnamese people is 74 years old, nearly 40% of people continue to work after the age of 60, so retirement depends on health conditions, financial resources, and working ability.

According to the Draft Law on Social Insurance, the retirement age will increase by three months each year for men until reaching 62 years old in 2028, and by four months for women until reaching 60 years old in 2035.

Associate Professor Dr. Giang Thanh Long, Director of the Institute of Public Policy and Management, National Economics University, an expert on population aging and social security, said that the gradual increase in retirement age according to the above roadmap is appropriate, and that further adjustments can be made after about 10-15 years. Currently, the retirement age in 2023 for men is 60 years and 9 months, and for women is 56 years.

Explaining this, according to Mr. Long, the average life expectancy of Vietnamese people has improved a lot. Compared to countries with similar incomes, Vietnam has a fairly high life expectancy. According to the general population and housing census, the life expectancy of Vietnamese people is approximately 74. The general trend of countries is that as life expectancy increases, the working age tends to improve, especially for groups with regular mental and physical activities.

"Life expectancy in Vietnam's labor force has also improved, so adjusting the retirement age is inevitable," said Mr. Long. In fact, if we consider the elderly to be 60 years old and above, the rate of workers who continue to work after the age of 60 is nearly 40%, meaning that out of 13 million people, more than 5 million are still economically active. For the 60-64 age group, this rate reaches nearly 55%.

People with reduced working capacity, or those working in particularly arduous, toxic, or dangerous jobs or jobs, or working in particularly difficult areas, can retire at an age up to 5 years younger than other groups. Mr. Long said that Vietnam currently has policies and regulations on early retirement due to various health conditions. However, to do so, it requires that policies dealing with issues related to health certification be transparent.

According to him, the retirement age should not be reduced for the entire system or for one or a few groups of people. "If each profession has its own retirement age, it will create chaos in the labor market," he said.

Sharing the same view, Dr. Ho Thi Kim Thanh, working at the Central Geriatric Hospital, said that from a health perspective, it is difficult to say an ideal retirement age, because each individual is different in terms of profession, health conditions, material conditions, and working ability. Some people are still lucid and continue to work at the age of 75, while manual workers at the age of 60 cannot continue working.

"The current retirement age and its gradual increase according to the roadmap are appropriate," said Dr. Thanh, adding that those who do heavy, toxic, dangerous work or are often under stress, when they feel it is directly affecting their health and they cannot do it, should propose early retirement.

A male worker (with more than 30 years of experience in the garment industry in Hanoi) is working at a factory in early 2022. Photo: Hong Chieu — A male worker with over 30 years of experience in the garment industry in Hanoi is working at a factory in early 2022. Photo: *Hong Chieu*

Experts around the world also believe that early retirement has both advantages and disadvantages. Early retirement helps improve physical and mental health, but it can also have negative effects if there is no suitable lifestyle and plan.

The same goes for retiring later. A study of nearly 430,000 people in France found that those who retired later were less likely to develop dementia. The study fits with a long-held hypothesis among many experts that staying mentally active reduces the risk of dementia. In 2019, a Swedish study found that people who worked past age 65 had better physical health than those who retired at that age. However, there was no significant difference in mental health or depression.

In contrast to the two studies above, a 2010 study of thousands of British people found that people who voluntarily retire early are healthier, both physically and mentally.

Mr. Long suggested that with the current regulations, when continuing to increase the retirement age, the government needs to have policies to ensure a working environment for people after the previously prescribed age, for example, ensuring that the working environment is not discriminated against by age. "Protecting the elderly in the workplace is extremely important," he said.

With the insurance law, he also believes that there must be other provisions to ensure high enforcement. In addition, many businesses are currently facing difficulties, and hiring workers after the age of 60 is very difficult. "Thailand or some other countries have policies that companies hiring older workers will receive tax reductions - a way to reduce the burden on businesses, this is something Vietnam needs to learn," said Mr. Long.

Thuy Quynh

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