Vietnam's highest pension: Over 100 million VND per month.

(Baonghean.vn) - A man in Ho Chi Minh City, who used to work for a foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprise, retired in 2015 and is now receiving a pension of 101 million VND per month.

This information was provided by Ms. Dinh Thi Thu Hien, Deputy Head of the Social Insurance Policy Implementation Department of Vietnam Social Insurance, at an online conference providing information on social insurance and health insurance at 63 locations nationwide on the afternoon of October 31st.

The pension of 101 million VND per month is recorded as the highest pension in Vietnam to date.

Explaining the reason for this "huge" salary, Ms. Dinh Thi Thu Hien said: "The principle of social insurance is contribution-benefit; the higher the contribution, the higher the benefit, and vice versa. During their employment, that person contributed to social insurance based on a very high salary."

Specifically, this person worked from 1992 until March 2015, having a total of 23 years of service upon retirement. Because they worked for a foreign company, at one point their monthly salary was nearly 250 million VND, therefore their base salary for social insurance contributions was very high.

On the other hand, before 2006, there was no ceiling on the amount of social insurance contributions, so on average, for the first 15 years, this person contributed up to 69 million VND per month. When the 2006 Social Insurance Law came into effect, the ceiling on social insurance contributions was limited to no more than 20 times the basic salary. The average social insurance contribution for this person in the remaining years was approximately 18 million VND per month.

This "huge" pension has led many to draw comparisons with the 1.3 million VND/month pension of kindergarten teacher Truong Thi Lan, who retired in Ha Tinh and is currently causing a stir in public opinion. The Deputy Head of the Social Insurance Policy Implementation Department of Vietnam Social Insurance explained: Teacher Lan had 37 years of service, including 22 years and 8 months of social insurance contributions. Compared to someone receiving a pension of 101 million VND/month, in terms of social insurance contribution time, Ms. Lan's contribution period is only slightly more, at 23 years.

Therefore, the key difference in pension levels lies in the amount of money each person contributes to social insurance. "High contributions lead to high benefits, low contributions lead to low benefits," Ms. Hien has repeatedly emphasized.

Phuoc Anh