Vietnam faces rapid ageing population

Vietnam is seeing a rapid increase in ageing population with about 10 million elderly people, accounting for 11 per cent of the country's total population, according to a Hanoi seminar on Monday.

Speaking at the two-day seminar on population aging, deputy head of the General Department of Population and Family Planning, Nguyen Van Tan, said that Vietnam had entered the period of population aging since 2011 and it is expected that the number of elderly people would make up 17 per cent of the total population by 2030 and 25 per cent by 2050.

“Population ageing is usually seen in developed countries but Vietnam is also experiencing this while still a middle-income nation," Tan said, adding that the ageing rate is occurring at a rapid rate.

"It took Australia 73 years, the US 69 years and Canada 65 years to enter the period of population ageing, but Vietnam faced the problem in only 22 years," he said. "This was caused by rising average lifespan and falling birth rate."

The official expressed concerns over the challenges facing the economy and society especially in welfare policies for elderly people.

"More than 70 per cent of elderly Vietnamese still work to earn their living," he said. "And despite living longer, Vietnamese people are having to live their last 14 years with diseases. Meanwhile, 30 per cent of elderly people do not have any health insurance and 50 per cent are unable to pay medical fees."

Therefore, local policy makers need to give out proper measures to minimise the impact of population ageing in the coming years, Tan stressed.