According to the General Department of Population and Family Planning (Ministry of Health), it is forecast that the number of elderly people in Vietnam will increase to 16.8 million people in 2039 and reach 25.2 million people in 2069. Vietnam is currently one of the fastest aging countries in the world…
The number of elderly people increases, Vietnam will enter an aging population period from 2036
Today, October 1 – International Day of Older Persons . The theme of this year’s International Day of the Elderly is “Families and society should create conditions for the elderly to live happily, healthily, and usefully”.
The issue of adapting to aging and caring for the health of the elderly is always raised because Vietnam is currently one of the countries with the fastest aging population in the world…
According to the General Department of Population and Family Planning (Ministry of Health), Vietnam began its population aging period in 2011 with the number of people aged 65 and over accounting for 7% of the total population. In 2021, the number of elderly people in Vietnam accounts for 8.3% of the total population (8.16 million elderly people).
It is forecast that the number of elderly people in Vietnam will increase to 16.8 million people in 2039 and reach 25.2 million people in 2069. Vietnam will enter an aging population period from 2036, at that time, the proportion The population aged 65 and over reached 14.2% of the total population.
Dr. Pham Vu Hoang, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Population and Family Planning, said that the time for our country to transition from the phase of population aging to an aging population is very short, about 25 years. Population aging brings both opportunities and challenges. Regarding opportunities, population aging can promote the development of fields such as insurance, banking, nutrition, tourism, technological innovation and the application of science and technology to production or management in the context of shortage of labor force.
However, population aging also poses serious challenges in economic growth, social security, labor, and infrastructure design, especially in the field of health care. Elderly people often suffer from many non-communicable diseases that require lifelong treatment such as blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, hearing loss, sleep disorders…
Currently, the average life expectancy of Vietnamese people is 73.6 years, and Vietnamese women have a higher life expectancy than men. It is worth mentioning that, on average, the elderly in Vietnam suffer from 3-4 diseases. People in our country have a relatively high life expectancy compared to other countries with the same standard of living, but they have a high number of years living with illness. Each Vietnamese person has an average of 10 years to live with illness, so it greatly affects the quality of life and reduces the number of years of healthy life….
How to care for the mental and physical health of the elderly?
At the workshop to share experiences in adapting to population aging and caring for the elderly between Japan and Vietnam organized by the General Department of Population and Family Planning in coordination with the East Asian Economic Research Institute and ASEAN Recently, Associate Professor, Dr. Ho Thi Kim Thanh, Head of Family Medicine Department, Hanoi Medical University, said that about 22% of the elderly had to be hospitalized within the past year. The average number of inpatient treatments is 2.3 times/year. Annual treatment costs for the elderly are 8-10 times higher than for young people.
As for Hanoi, according to Associate Professor Dr. Ho Thi Kim Thanh, the capital has about 250,000 people aged 75 and older, who need the most social, medical, and care assistance. It is estimated that Hanoi needs at least 10 hospitals, geriatric departments, and specialized geriatric care medical centers to serve the elderly.
Medical experts say that in order for the elderly to live happily, healthily, and usefully, mental health care for the elderly needs to continue to be given more attention, and at the same time to improve their health. For the elderly, disease prevention plays an important role, in which maintaining the habit of regular health checks, having a disease monitoring book and complying with medication use as prescribed by the doctor is very important. set.
In Hanoi, Director of Hanoi Department of Population and Family Planning Vu Duy Hung said that health care for the elderly has been promoted by the city, with the rate of periodic health examinations for the elderly in 9 months of 2023. reached 79.25%, estimated to reach 87% by 2023, striving to complete assigned targets.
At the same time, in order for the elderly to live happily and healthily, the Association of the Elderly at all levels throughout the city also integrates the emulation movement “Exemplary Elderly” with population work to apply it into practice in each home. family, residential area. From this movement, many outstanding elderly members have appeared in mobilizing people, their children and grandchildren to well implement population policy.
“During the activities, all levels of the Association of the Elderly spent considerable time propagating population work. The elders always determined that this was the responsibility of each individual, in coordination with grassroots organizations. Mobilize people, mobilize children and grandchildren to practice birth planning, especially eliminate the ideology of “respecting men and despising women”, considering the good implementation of population work as a target for completing the tasks of the association. member of the elderly association” – Mr. Vu Duy Hung said.
According to Dr. Pham Vu Hoang, the Party and State always respect and promote the role of caring for and protecting the elderly, including medical care. Vietnam has a fine tradition dating back thousands of years of always respecting and taking care of the elderly. Many policies and programs for health care in particular and care for the elderly in general have been issued and implemented by Vietnam.
Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam term XII on population work in the new situation has set the goal of adapting to population aging. Vietnam’s Population Strategy to 2030 once again reaffirms that goal to contribute to rapid and sustainable development of the country.
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