Health Inequalities among Older Adults in Vietnam: Evidence from the 2011 Vietnam National Aging Survey

Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Singapore Management University
Long Thanh Giang, National Economics University, Vietnam

Vietnam’s economic development, change in health infrastructure, demographic and epidemiological transitions, and projected rapid population aging point to the need for understanding issues related to the wellbeing of older adults. Few recent studies that examine old-age health among specific Vietnamese populations notwithstanding, a national profile of older adults’ health, particularly health inequalities among the aged, is still lacking for Vietnam. To address this gap, we analyze nationally representative data from Vietnam’s first national survey of older adults to examine socioeconomic gradients in health at older ages in urban and rural Vietnam. Our specific research questions include: how are various measures of socioeconomic status (education, occupation, household assets) associated with health outcomes (self-rated health, ADL limitations, functional health, and psychological health)? How do these relationships vary across rural and urban areas of Vietnam? Which SES indicators are better able to determine health status of older Vietnamese populations?