To help people enjoy much more from socio-security policy

WVR - Socio-security policy must be promoted and expanded so that people could enjoy much more from country’s development.
To help people enjoy much more from socio-security policy
National Assembly deputy Pham Trong Nghia said that Vietnam always considered people as the driving force, center and goals of socio-security policy. (Source: quochoi.vn)

In the world, the right to social security is one of the basic human rights, classified as economic, social and cultural rights. This right is recognized in Article 22 (also mentioned in Article 25) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948.

Throughout the process of protecting, building and developing the country, our Party has repeatedly affirmed Vietnam's development model of considering people as the driving force, center and goal of development. At the same time, the important position and role of the human factor as a determinant of development are also respected.

Vietnam always considers people as center, goals of socio-security policy. In our country, the rights to enjoy socio-security policy was firstly mentioned in Constitution 2013 as the basic rights of citizens. In particular, Article 34 of Consitution stipulates: "Citizens have the right to be guaranteed social security." Thus, all Vietnamese citizens have the right to enjoy social security, regardless of gender, religion, belief, occupation, or social class.

The social security system is still difficult

It can be said that human resources are the most valuable asset and must be protected. At the same time, the highest goal of all socio-economic development policies is also for people, toward to ensure security and an increasingly better life for people. Therefore, social security policy must be increasingly developed and expanded to serve as a better basis for people to benefit more and more from the country's development.

However, in reality the socio-security system in our country still has some shortcomings. Social security coverage is still low due to limited investment resources for social security. Therefore, priority must be given first to the poor, the disadvantaged, the vulnerable, the one in remote areas, and ethnic minorities, etc.

The approach of socio-security policy is gradually based on the people’s assess to social security. In particular, the rights of women, children, the elderly, people with disabilities and vulnerable groups are better guaranteed. But due to limited resources, social security policy has yet to ensure that all people have a minimum standard of living according to national standards.

According to assessments by international organizations, Vietnam is one of the countries with the fastest aging rate in the world and will enter a period of aging population in 2036 and a very old population in 2056. Socio-economic problems arise, putting pressure on the social security system.

In the coming time, our country will still face challenges in socio-security policy. Firstly, it is the challenge of population aging. Vietnam has entered the phase of aging population since 2017 when the proportion of elderly people has accounted for 10% of the country's population. At the same time, the challenge of the "middle income trap" reduces resources for social security.

That Vietnam is becoming a developing middle-income country serves as an important opportunity and condition for the development of the social security system in the period 2021-2030. It is necessary to focus resources and have breakthrough solutions to maintain high and sustainable growth rates, improve growth quality and increase the scale of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and GDP per capita. Then there is a premise to implement a social security policy with a rights-based approach towards universal coverage as prescribed by the Constitution.

In addition, Vietnam is forecast to among five countries affected most seriously by climate changes with many extremely damages to agriculture, farmers, villages and country in particular. Climate change is a huge challenge to Vietnam in socio-economic development, especially to ensure socio-security.

To help people enjoy much more from socio-security policy
People benefit more and more from socio-security policies. (Source: quochoi.vn)

To take advantage from the golden population period

Facing with such difficulties, in my opinion, it is necessary to maximize the golden population advatange and have proper socio-economic development policies to protect, construct and improve human resources. Developing and improving the social care system to meet increasing service needs of Vietnamese people are also needed.

According to the General Statistics Office, for the first 9 months in 2023, the unemployment rate among the working age population is 2.28%, down 0.07% points over the same period last year. Regarding employed workers, in the first 9 months of 2023, there are 51.2 million employed workers, an increase of 776 thousand people over the same period last year. In which, the urban area has 19 million people, an increase of 321,600 people over the same period last year; rural areas is 32.2 million people, an increase of 454,300 people.

According to Viet Nam Social Security (VNSS) in 2022, the number of people joining VNSS was at 17.5 million, reached 38.08% of the labor force in this age group. In particular, the voluntary social insurance coverage rate reached 3.18% of the workforce with more than 1.4 million participants, exceeding 0.68% of the target assigned to 2025 in Resolution No.28-NQ./TW. By September 2023, the number of people participating in social insurance is estimated to increase by 8 thousand people compared to 2022.

Notably, according to Vietnam Social Security, the proportion of population participating in health insurance develops sustainably every year, always achieves the target assigned by the National Assembly and the Government: in 2021, the health insurance coverage rate is 91.01% (exceeds 0.01%); in 2022, 92.04% (exceeding 0.04%); in 2023, it is estimated at 93.22% (exceeding 0.02%).

Therefore, with limited resources and time, it is necessary to more specifically identify the subjects and content of social security policies to ensure effectiveness, focusing on the groups of subjects with the most urgent needs and those most affected, disadvantaged and the weakest in society.


*National Assembly Deputy, full-time member of the National Assembly's Social Committee.

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