95 pct of Vietnamese worry over pension: survey

Most Vietnamese people are worried about their income for living and healthcare when they reach the retirement age, local online newspaper Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper on Wednesday quoted a recent foreign survey.

The survey by the Global Aging Institute and insurance company Prudential looked at the security and welfare conditions of retirees in East Asian nations, including Vietnam.

Accordingly, 95 percent of Vietnamese laborers are worried that they may not have enough income for living and healthcare in their retirement age.

Only one-fifth of the Vietnamese surveyed hoped that they will have a sufficient income when they are at pensionable age and 10 percent expressed their belief that they will rely on their children or relatives in retirement.

The worry does place a bulky burden on social security, especially when the Vietnamese population is aging the fastest in Asia and the world, according to Vietnam's General Department of Population and Family Planning.

Though the life expectancy of Vietnamese has improved, reaching around 70, their healthy age is not long. On average, an elderly Vietnamese suffers 14 years of disease in their life. About 95 percent of elderly Vietnamese people suffer from sicknesses and a person has 2.69 ailments on average.

Richard Jackson, chairman of the Global Aging Institute, said it is obvious that retirees in Vietnam and East Asian nations are in a difficult period and worry about their future retirement age since the populations in those countries are quickly aging.

Most Vietnamese people polled in the survey agreed that they will save more to prepare for their future. Insurance service is also a factor Vietnamese people are interested in.

Around 25 percent of the people surveyed expressed their hope that they will buy insurance policies, government bonds, shares and products from mutual assistance funds to prepare for their retirement. Endi