The Elderly Population in Vietnam during Economic Transformation: An Overview

increased (from 10 percent in 1992/93 to 14 percent in 2004). There were, however, still many elderly households relying on natural water sources such as
spring water, rain water, and water from rivers, lakes and ponds.
Hygiene conditions in terms of toilets were also significantly
improved over the past decade. As can be seen in Table 7, more modern toilet
types were used in the elderly households, e.g., the percentage using flush toilets with septic tanks increased from 12.88 percent in 1992/93 to 25.44 percent
in 2004, while the percentage using simple toilets decreased substantially from55.78 percent to 24.13 percent in the same period. Nevertheless, about 15 percent of elderly households did not have any toilet, which might harm theirhealth through bad hygiene conditions.
One of the most substantial improvements during the period was theincreased percentage of elderly households using electricity as the main source

203Giang Thanh Long and Wade Donald Pfauof lighting. It increased from 52.13 percent in 1992/93 to almost 94 percent in2004. The improvement resulted from the rural electrification program promoted by the government since the late 1990s. At the same time, the percentage ofthe elderly households using gas, oil, and kerosene lamps decreased significantly from 46.49 percent in 1993 to only 4.23 percent in 2004.
4.5. Poverty status of the elderly and their households
We follow the GSO to calculate per capita expenditures-based poverty
rates. The GSO method is to calculate the minimum expenditures needed to204

The Elderly Population in Vietnam during Economic Transformation: An Overview

satisfy basic nutritional and living needs. Moreover, this method provides anabsolute poverty line that stays constant in real terms over time. Table 8 shows
the GSO poverty lines over time.
Table 9 provides our estimates of poverty rates in Vietnam for different categories. Poverty rates decreased dramatically across Vietnam over thestudy period (57.6 percent overall in 1992/93 to 19.3 percent overall in 2004).
Although poverty rates reduced impressively in all regions, theyremained high in the North West and the Central Highlands. The situation indicates that the government should promote poverty reduction programs more205

Giang Thanh Long and Wade Donald Pfau

effectively in these regions. In addition, it is also clear that regional disparities
remained over time.
By area, we see that poverty rates reduced substantially in both urban
and rural areas. For instance, elderly poverty rates decreased from 58.1 percent
to 22.8 percent in rural areas, and from 19.6 percent to 4.3 percent in urban
areas between 1992/93 and 2004. Despite dramatic improvements, poverty consistently remained higher in rural areas.
By marital status and gender, the differences among the groups weresmall, but married people and males tended to have slightly lower poverty rates
than those of their counterparts.

206

The Elderly Population in Vietnam during Economic Transformation: An Overview

With regard to living arrangements, Figure 3 shows the distribution of
per capita expenditures in comparison to the poverty thresholds. Although thefigure illustrates the impressive gains in poverty reduction, no particular pattern
for poverty rates among various living arrangements emerged.
One of the most important matters for social welfare is to address therelative poverty and vulnerability of various groups in Vietnam. By looking at
the poverty rates for different age groups, we found one of the striking results
was that poverty rates of the elderly were actually lower than those of thenonelderly. Figure 4 provides further evidence of this trend.
In Figure 4, poverty rates present a U-shaped pattern across the age
distribution with the highest rates occurring at the youngest and oldest ages, andthe lowest poverty rates occurring in the 50s and 60s. This means that, for thecurrent elderly population in Vietnam, the age of 60 might be too young to bedefined as elderly, as hardship tends to occur mostly at later ages.
Although the above information illustrates in detail the official poverty incidence of the elderly population in Vietnam, the official measure has
potential biases. As indicated in a variety of studies on measurements of elderly
poverty, such as Schwarz (2003) and Barrientos (2006), such poverty measures
are only established for the household as a whole rather than for particular individuals. Therefore, it is quite difficult to analyze the elderly’s relative poverty
and vulnerability in comparison with that of the rest of the population. In orderto get more detailed information about the poverty of elderly people, a numberof indicators, such as family composition and control of family resources, need
to be taken into account. Also, large households may bear less burden than theofficial measures suggest because of economies of scale in their expenditures
for housing and other goods, and when this is accounted for along with the factthat elderly households are generally smaller, we may see a rise in elderly
poverty relative to the rest of the population. We will further explore theseissues in subsequent research.

207

Giang Thanh Long and Wade Donald Pfau

5. Concluding Remarks
Like many countries in the world, the aging process of the populationin Vietnam is taking place more rapidly than official population projections,such as the one by the United Nations (2004). An aging society that is also
undergoing rapid social and economic changes produces a potential concern for
public policy. Using the Vietnam (Household) Living Standard Surveys for
1992/93 to 2004, we examined the elderly population of Vietnam with attention
to various aspects of aging to identify the potential stresses.
By investigating such indicators among the elderly as education,
household living arrangements, and housing conditions, we found that family
relations remained strong in Vietnam despite profound social and economicchanges. We found a relatively high proportion of elderly people living with
their children. In addition, the elderly were not simply dependents in the households; they contributed significantly to the households in various ways. Theirhousing conditions and standard of living have also improved over time.
Despite the general improvements, however, the detailed decomposition of data shows that many disparities remained within the elderly population.
Disadvantages remained for women, for those in rural areas, and especially inparticular regions of the country. Given the current social security system withlow coverage of the population, the elderly people might face a variety of socialand economic risks as societal circumstances continue to change.
In the next step of research on the elderly population in Vietnam, wewill explore in more detail income and poverty issues, in order to pursue ourkeen interest in Vietnamese pension reform issues. We will consider how a
non-contributory pension scheme might operate and benefit the Vietnameseelderly.

References

Barbieri, M. 2006. “Doi moi and the Elderly: Intergenerational Support under Strain ofReforms.” Paper prepared for presentation at the 2006 Population of America Association Meeting, Los Angeles, March 30–April 1, 2006.

208

The Elderly Population in Vietnam during Economic Transformation: An Overview

Barrientos, A. 2006. “Poverty Reduction: The Missing Piece of Pension Reform in Latin
America.” Social Policy & Administration 40, no. 4: 369–384.
Bui, T. C.; S. A. Truong; D. Goodkind; J. Knodel; and J. Friedman. 1999. “Vietnamese
Elderly amidst Transformations of Social Welfare Policy.” Research Report No. 99436. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Population Studies Center (PSC), University of Michigan.
Friedman, J.; J. Knodel; T. C. Bui; and S. A. Truong. 2002. “Gender and Intergenerational Exchange in Vietnam.” PSC Research Report No. 02-529. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Population Studies Center (PSC), University of Michigan.
General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO). 2004a. “General Introduction of Vietnam
Household Living Standard Survey 2002 (VHLSS2002).” Mimeo.
_______. 2004b. “Main Differences between VLSS 1992/1993, VLSS 1997/1998, andVHLSS 2001/2002.” Mimeo.
Grosh, M. E., and P. Glewwe. 1998. “Data Watch: The World Bank’s Living Standards
Measurement Study Household Surveys.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 12, no.
1: 187–196.
HelpAge International. 2004. Age and Security: How Social Pension Can Deliver Effective Aid to Poor Older People and Their Families. London: HelpAge International.
Hirschman, C., and M. L. Vu. 1996. “Family and Household Structure in Vietnam:
Some Glimpses from a Recent Survey.” Pacific Affairs, Summer 1996. Retrieved
from
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3680/is_199607/ai_n8751166 on
June 11, 2006.
Knodel, J.; J. Friedman; S. A. Truong; and T. C. Bui. 2000. “Intergenerational
Exchanges in Vietnam: Family Size, Sex Composition, and the Location of Children.” Population Studies 54, no. 1: 89–104.
Knodel, J., and S. A. Truong. 2002. “Vietnam’s Older Population: The View from Census.” PSC Research Report No. 02-523. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Population Studies
Center (PSC), University of Michigan.
Le, B. D.; N. A. Dang; T. H. Khuat; H. T. Le; and R. L. Bach. 2005. Social Protection
for the Most Needy in Vietnam. Hanoi: The World Publishing House.
Mason, K. O. 1992. “Family Change and Support of the Elderly in Asia: What do We
Know?” Asia Pacific Population Journal 7, no. 3: 13–32. Retrieved fromhttp://www.unescap.org/ESID/psis/population/journal/1992/v07n3a2.htm on209

Giang Thanh Long and Wade Donald Pfau

June 11, 2006.
Schwarz, A. 2003. “Old Age Security and Social Pensions.”, Social Protection, WorldBank. Washington D.C: World Bank, mimeo.
Truong, S. A.; T. C. Bui; D. Goodkind; and J. Knodel. 1997. “Living Arrangements,Patrilinelity, and Sources of Support among Elderly Vietnamese.” Asia-Pacific
Population Journal 12, no. 4: 69–88. Retrieved fromhttp://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/journal/1997/v12n4a5.htm on
June 11, 2006.
United Nations. 2005. World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision Population
Database. Retrieved fromhttp://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=1 on June 11, 2006.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2002. Gender Differences in theTransitional Economy of Vietnam. Hanoi: UNDP Vietnam.
World Bank. 2000. “Vietnam Living Standards Survey (VLSS), 1992-1993: Basic Information.” Poverty and Human Resources Division, World Bank. (Updated from1994 version.)_______. 2001. “Vietnam Living Standards Survey (VLSS), 1997-1998: Basic Information.” Poverty and Human Resources Division, World Bank.
_______. 2005. “The 2002 and 2004 Vietnam Living Standards Surveys (VHLSS 2002and 2004).” Presentation to introduce two surveys by the World Bank Vietnam.
Retrieved fromhttp://www.worldbank.org.vn/data/VHLSS2002_2004.ppt on June 11, 2006.

210