Pension roadmap for female workers born in 1979

Vietnam Social Security has just issued specific instructions on pension conditions for voluntary social insurance (SI) participants, clarifying the case of female workers born in 1979 participating inSI late.

Sending a question to the social insurance agency, Ms. N.H said that she was born in March 1979, and started participating in voluntary social insurance from April 2025. Ms. H. wondered how many years of social insurance should be paid to receive a pension, how old should be eligible for it, and if they have reached retirement age but have not paid enough years, will they be compensated at one time or not.

Regarding this issue, Vietnam Social Insurance said that according to the provisions of the Social Insurance Law 2024, voluntary social insurance participants are entitled to pension when they reach retirement age according to the provisions of the Labor Code and have paid social insurance for 15 years or more.

The 2019 Labor Code stipulates that from January 1, 2021, the retirement age of employees in normal working conditions will be gradually adjusted to increase according to the roadmap. For female workers, it will increase by 4 months each year until they reach the age of 60 in 2035.

According to this roadmap, female workers born in March 79 will reach 60 years old in March 2039, this is the time when they are eligible for pension.

Comparing Ms. H's time participating in social insurance, if she has paid voluntary social insurance continuously from April 2025 to March 2039, the total participation period is 14 years, not meeting the minimum requirements of 15 years as prescribed.

In this case, according to the Government's regulations on voluntary social insurance, people who are old enough to retire but have not paid social insurance for more than 5 years (60 months) are allowed to pay one time for the remaining period to be eligible for pension.

Thus, by March 2039, Ms. H. can choose to pay one time for the remaining 15 years of social insurance to complete and receive a pension according to regulations.

According to the Social Insurance Law 2024, for female workers, the monthly pension is calculated at 45% of the average income used as the basis for social insurance contributions corresponding to 15 years of social insurance contributions, then for each additional year of contributions, an additional 2% is calculated, with a maximum of 75%.

In Ms. H's case, if she completes 15 years of voluntary social insurance contributions, the pension will be determined based on the income she has chosen to pay social insurance for the entire participation period.

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