Cambodia, Vietnam Raise Retirement Age for Civil Servants, Singapore to Follow

Cambodia and Vietnam will increase their retirement ages as the aging population in both Asean countries keeps increasing, AFP reported.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Civil Service has increase the retirement age of all civil servants to 60 years and with this, nearly 2,000 civil servants who are set to retire by year’s end will continue working.

Its current retirement age for civil servants varies from 55 to 60 years old, according to their positions.

The Phnom Penh Post said that with the new ruling, the retirement age has been standardised to 60 years.

Ministry of Civil Service undersecretary Chut Monny told The Post that the new law would apply to those who are set to retire from November onwards.

“Those who already retired in October will not be affected by the law,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s parliament passed a law increasing the nation’s retirement age to 60 years for women and 62 for men.

According to the Vietnam Express, the male retirement age will be gradually increased from 60 to 62 by 2028, while female retirement age would increase from 55 to 60 by 2035. It said that starting 2021, male retirement age would increase by three months per year while female retirement age would increase by four months per year.

The new retirement ages are also aligned with Vietnamese workers’ health and life expectancy.

Vietnam’s current population is around 96.2 million people, with the percentage of elderly people at around 11.7 per cent. The United Nations has forecasted that the percentage of people over 65 in Vietnam will increase to 12.9 per cent in 2030 and 23 per cent in 2050.

Meanwhile, Singapore will gradually raise its retirement age by three years to 65, its prime minister said in August this year.

The retirement age will rise to 63 in 2022 from the current retirement age of 62 and to 65 by 2030, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, as quoted by New Straits Times.