An Exploration for a Universal Non-contributory Pension Scheme in Vietnam

Briefly, some of our findings are as follows. First, the impacts of a universal NCP scheme on poverty rates and the poverty gap of the older persons would be significant, but become less potent when the eligibility age is higher. In particular, with the benefits provided, the older persons who are females; who are married; who are living in urban areas; who are working, or who are receiving social insurance benefits would be more likely to reduce their poverty rates and poverty gaps than other elderly groups. Second, the financial simulations show that the cost of the scheme, which provides a benefit equal to 50.0 per cent of the official poverty line to all the persons aged 60 and over, would be about 1.2 per cent of GDP in 2004. As population ages as in the projections of the United Nations (2007a), the cost would be higher, but only as high as about 3.0 per cent of GDP.