Hanoi (VNA) 𓆉– After decades of a growing young population, Vietnam’s citizens are now getting older, with an aging period beginning in 2011.

The country is now one of the fastest aging countries in the world. Population aging greatly affects the socioeconomic aspects of the country and each community, including the care for the elderly. At a recent workshop sharing experiences in adapapting to population aging and caring for the elderly, Japanese experts shared initiatives and raised proposals on population and healthcare-related cooperation between the two countries to help promote the adapation to aging.

Multiple challenges posed by population aging

Dr Pham Vu Hoang, Deputy General Director of the General Office for Population and Family Planning under the Ministry of Health, said population aging is a major demographic trend in the world. The percentage of older persons is increasing rapidly, especially in developing countries like Vietnam. Vietnam entered the population aging period in 2011 and is now one of the fastest aging countries in the world. It will take the country only 25 years to transition from the period of aging population to the period of aged population. There are about 9 million elderly people, aged 65 and over, in the country at present, accounting for 7% of the total population. The figure is forecast to reach 21.7 million by 2050. If those aged 60 and over are included, the number of elderly people now stands at about 12 million, or 12% of the population – a rate predicted to reach some 25% by 2050, Hoang said. It is a fact that population aging or higher life expectancy reflects an enormous achievement in socioeconomic development, partly due to population and family planning programme under the Party and Government’s leadership, he emphasised. However, population aging also poses serious challenges to economic growth, social security, labour, infrastructure, and especially health care, the official pointed out, elaborating that older persons often suffer from non-communicable illnesses needing long-term treatment such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and dementia. Population aging greatly affects every socioeconomic aspect of countries and communities, including health and social care for the elderly, he added.

Experiences from Japan

Japan is a country with rich experience in building a healthy aging society. Its elderly population, aged 65 and over, was estimated at 36.2 million or 29% of the total population in 2022. Its older persons are forecast to increase to 37.3 million and 31% by 2030, and to nearly 40% of the population by 2060. Dr Kenji Shibuya, a health expert from Japan and former head of the Health Care 2035 Advisory Panel of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, said health crises, conflicts, the digital gap, and other global threats are impacting communitiies. With population aging, the Health Care 2035 Advisory Panel is tasked with drafting the future of Japan’s health sector and considering challenges posed by population aging, rising healthcare costs, and globalisation, he noted. Instead of only focusing on hospitals and the healthcare system, services appropriate to the needs of each individual in different aspects should be delivered, he suggested. Other experts shared Japan’s policies and initiatives issued to deal with challenges of an aging society. The country has developed community-based care services supported by a long-term care insurance system while supplying diverse services under the cooperation between the public and private sectors. Prof. Naoki Kondo, Dean of the social epidemiology department at the School of Public Health under the Kyoto University, noted that in the past, many policies failed in Japan to cope with an aging society. It then set up social gathering sites to help prevent functional disability among the elderly. At these places, older persons can interact with one another, which has helped halve the rate of those in need of nursing, he added. At the workshop, experts of Japan and Vietnam discussed ideas around cooperation to call for relevant institutional engagement in settling problems of population aging and building a health and active aging society./.