No retirement option: Vietnamese work into sunset years

It's 6 a.m. and Tran Thi Vui, 68, of HCMC starts a new day with a bicycle loaded with fresh flower bouquets.

For more than 10 years, Vui has been cycling three kilometers every day from her rented home in District 11 to the Nguyen Tri Phuong Market in District 10 to sell flowers.

Vui, who has no children, has seen her business suffer of late. While it is a longstanding Vietnamese tradition to offer fresh flowers deities and ancestors, this is mostly done on sacred days – like full moon days or during festivals like Tet, the Lunar New Year.

These days, it has become difficult to sell a bouquet on normal days.

On average, Vui has been able to earn around VND4.5 million ($195.73) a month, just enough to cover the rent, food and medical bills.

A native of the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, Vui left for HCMC 40 years ago and worked as a street vendor. After she got married, she stayed at home as a housewife, with no chance of saving up for old age.

Her life was turned upside down when her husband died seven years ago. Not long after, she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

"I can feel my health deteriorating every day. I think about retiring, but if I don’t work, how can I survive?

"I still have relatives in my hometown, but I don't want to seek their help because they are all either old or too poor."

Nguyen Van Son, a native of the southern province of Tay Ninh, has two sons, but both left for Cambodia to work as masons for meager wages and cannot take care of him in old age.

For now, the 72-year-old man makes his living by climbing thousands of stairs to the Ba Den Mountain, a popular spiritual and tourism destination, to sell lottery tickets.

"On a good day I can earn up to VND300,000 ($13.01), but there are days I take home just VND40,000, enough to buy two loaves of bread," he said, sitting down and massaging his feet.

Son said that every day after returning home, his legs are sore and swollen. He has to take medicines so that he can work the next day.

"I pray every day for good health so I can keep working to take care of myself. I don't want to become a burden for my family. My sons have been out of work for months because of the Covid-19 outbreaks in Cambodia," Son said.

Not being to afford health insurance, which costs VND800,000 ($34.72) per person per year, Son lives in fear that he will contract some dangerous diseases that will be expensive to treat.

Demographic fallout?

Vui and Son are among millions in Vietnam who continue working for a living to take care of themselves long after the official retirement age.

For long, Vietnam has been expected to benefit greatly from its "golden population" over a 30-year period from 2010 to 2040, with more economically active people (between 15-60 years of age) than economically inactive ones.

However, due to a lower birth rate and longer life expectancy, the country is aging rapidly, and the working-age population is shrinking at a fast pace.

Vietnam is currently among the most rapidly aging countries in the world. It officially entered the aging phase in 2011 when the number of people over 60 made up 10 percent of the population.

That ratio climbed to 12 percent in 2019 for a population of 95 million and is expected to rise to 17.9 percent in 2025 and more than 20 percent in 2038. By then, the nation will officially become an aging country.

However, the social safety net for elderly people, such as pensions and other support, can cover only 30 percent of the needy.

A high 64.4 percent of the country's elderly population, estimated at more than 13.4 million, do not have pensions. They have to depend on their children or continue earning a living, according to a report released this month by the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities in collaboration with Germany's Justus Liebig Giessen University.

It said 46 percent of those aged 60-64 age group, 30 percent of the 70-79 age group and 10 percent of those above 80 have to work to earn their daily living.

Late last year, Vietnam had around 14.1 million people past the retired age, but only 4.9 million, equivalent to around 30 percent, had access to the retirement pension.

For seniors without pension, social security and financial stability, there is no other option except to continue working in order to make ends meet.

There is some state support for the elderly that are very poor, but this is also limited.

The government has a social pension scheme that provides allowances to elderly citizens without a contributory pension. But analysts have pointed out that it is extremely restrictive, and only about one in five qualify for it.

To be eligible, a citizen has to be above 80 (which is also above average national life expectancy for both genders); or aged between 60 and 79 and be officially identified as poor.

Even more challenging

Dr. Pham Quang Minh, head of the Hanoi University’s international development research department, said that unlike many developed countries, Vietnam’s population has aged before the country becoming rich or moderately rich.

"This will be a major challenge for the economy as a larger senior citizen population could lead to labor shortages, increased cost of social welfare and a heavier burden on the public healthcare system," he said.

Despite the nation’s fast economic growth, its per capita GDP is still lower than several countries in the region at $3,498 last year.

The United Nations Development Program in Vietnam estimates that 20 percent of Vietnamese senior citizens aged 60 or older are currently living under the poverty line.

And while Vietnamese elders are living longer, they are spending more time being sick.

At present, around 60 percent of elderly people suffer from chronic diseases, with each contracting three to six of these on average, including metabolic disorders, musculoskeletal pain, and diseases related to cardiovascular, neurology, respiratory, digestive, hearing and visual problems.

Giang Thanh Long, head of the Department of Public Policy and Management under the National Economics University, said that the government needs to adopt policies to encourage working-age people to increase productivity and encourage all laborers, especially in the informal sector, to participate in social insurance funds so that when they get old they can take care of themselves, instead of relying on their children or grandchildren and the government’s welfare policies.

Long said to limit the speed of aging, the government should develop policies so that couples feel secure in raising more children. Many families, especially in big cities, tend to have just one child.

People like Vui and Son expect that the government will create favorable conditions so that even those without social insurance cards can easily access healthcare services. Right now, they don't dare to visit hospitals because they cannot afford it.

Vui is worried about the future, including eventual funeral expenses, but she has more short-term concerns on her mind. She is wondering how she can get enough money to visit the hospital next month for a health check.