As of July 1, 2025, the 2024 Law on Social Insurance takes effect, introducing a major change to one of the two key conditions for pension entitlement: the minimum period of compulsory social insurance contribution is reduced from 20 years to 15 years. Consequently, the conditions for early retirement have also been adjusted accordingly.

For employees working under normal working conditions, the retirement age will be gradually adjusted to 62 years old for men by 2028 and 60 years old for women by 2035. Specifically, from 2021, the retirement age is set at 60 years and 3 months for men and 55 years and 4 months for women, with annual increments of 3 months for men and 4 months for women, until the target age is reached.

Employees may retire earlier, but not more than 5 years before the statutory retirement age applicable under normal conditions, provided they fall under one of the following categories:

- Having at least 15 years of working in occupations or jobs classified as arduous, hazardous, dangerous, or especially arduous, hazardous, and dangerous, as prescribed by the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs;

- Having at least 15 years of working in areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions, including periods of work in regions where a regional allowance coefficient of 0.7 or higher was applicable prior to January 1, 2021;

- Having a work capacity reduction of between 61% and under 81%;

- Having a total of at least 15 years working in both (i) hazardous or dangerous occupations and (ii) areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions (including areas with a regional allowance coefficient of 0.7 or more before January 1, 2021).
 

In addition, employees may retire up to 10 years earlier than the statutory retirement age under normal working conditions if they fall into any of the following cases:

- Having at least 15 years of working in coal mining in underground mines;

- Having a work capacity reduction of 81% or more;

- Being infected with HIV due to occupational accidents during the performance of assigned duties;

- Having at least 15 years in especially arduous, hazardous, or dangerous occupations, as prescribed by the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, and concurrently suffering from a work capacity reduction of 61% or more.

Thus, the current retirement policy has been designed to be gradually increasing yet flexible, taking into account the nature of the work, health status, and specific circumstances of each employee.

Anh Tuan

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GATTACA LAW FIRM | Trusted Legal Partner

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