Vietnam continues crusade against poverty
Sound economic growth sustained by market-oriented reforms in concert with a committed socio-economic strategy aimed at poverty eradication allowed Vietnam to turn itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to a lower middle-income country by 2011. However, despite this success, many challenges are still existing, and the government is committed to cope with them.
As reported by the World Bank, Vietnam has one of the best records worldwide in combating poverty. It also achieved so far six out of ten Millennium Development Goals, envisioning that two more would be achieved by 2015.
Data released by the World Bank shows that poverty in Vietnam (measured by updated indicators introduced in 2010 that substituted the obsolete ones implemented during the 1990s) over the past twenty years has seen a reduction from 60 per cent in 1990 to 20.7 per cent of the population in 2010. The government in Hanoi highlighted that the share of impoverished households in the country dropped from 14 per cent in 2010 to 11.76 per cent in 2011 while in 2012 the share was only 9.6 per cent.
Vietnam identified poverty eradication as a national priority in 2007 when it issued the 2006-2010 National Target Programme on Poverty Reduction, aiming to reduce the 22 per cent of poor households at that time to 10 per cent in 2010. With the goal almost achieved, in 2011 authorities established the new 2011-2015 poverty reduction framework that focuses on providing families close above the poverty line, who were used to receive money transfers, with new tools that would improve their situation instead of expecting continued government assistance.
In this framework, the government announced the target of reducing poverty to 7.6 per cent in 2013, adding that related spending in the period 2011-2012 was around $512 million, among other support for health cards for ethnic minority communities, as well as students and children under 6 years. In addition, the government spent around $287 million on fee exemptions for low-income families, offering vocational training and preferential credit loans that have been effective tools to reduce poverty especially in rural areas.
Although these achievements are impressive, Valerie Kozel, Senior Economist for the World Bank, affirmed that other challenges are arising in the country. As she stated, in fact, “inequality is rising, and ethnic minority poverty remains persistently high. The remaining poor are harder to reach and they face difficult challenges of isolation, limited assets, low levels of education and poor health conditions”.
Vietnam is also experiencing a strong urbanisation process that is complicating the current poverty scenario. The country in 2009 had one of the highest urbanisation rates in Southeast Asia, with 25.4 million of the 88-million population living in urban centers. In 2014, the figure is expected climb to 39.7 million, and despite 99 per cent of the urban population has access to water, the infrastructure is not supporting this boom and the majority of jobs offered in urban centers are informal so they lack employment benefits such as health insurance and pension.
With new sorts of poverty arising that make public policies less effective, the government is adjusting its tools to these changes. As Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister, Vu Van Ninh, pointed out in April 2013, the main focus at present are families above the poverty line that need new tools to improve their condition, as well as households in rural areas that still lack access to education and health.
In this context, the Project 30a inaugurated in 2008 aimed at poverty reduction in the 62 poorest districts of the country plans to allocate new funds to six provinces in 2013. Thanks to this programme, the rate of households under the poverty line in those 62 districts decreased from 50.7 per cent in 2011 to 43.8 per cent in 2012.
[caption id="attachment_9631" align="alignleft" width="143"] Source: World Bank (Click to enlarge)[/caption] Sound economic growth sustained by market-oriented reforms in concert with a committed socio-economic strategy aimed at poverty eradication allowed Vietnam to turn itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to a lower middle-income country by 2011. However, despite this success, many challenges are still existing, and the government is committed to cope with them. As reported by the World Bank, Vietnam has one of the best records worldwide in combating poverty. It also achieved so far six out of ten Millennium Development Goals, envisioning that two more...
Sound economic growth sustained by market-oriented reforms in concert with a committed socio-economic strategy aimed at poverty eradication allowed Vietnam to turn itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to a lower middle-income country by 2011. However, despite this success, many challenges are still existing, and the government is committed to cope with them.
As reported by the World Bank, Vietnam has one of the best records worldwide in combating poverty. It also achieved so far six out of ten Millennium Development Goals, envisioning that two more would be achieved by 2015.
Data released by the World Bank shows that poverty in Vietnam (measured by updated indicators introduced in 2010 that substituted the obsolete ones implemented during the 1990s) over the past twenty years has seen a reduction from 60 per cent in 1990 to 20.7 per cent of the population in 2010. The government in Hanoi highlighted that the share of impoverished households in the country dropped from 14 per cent in 2010 to 11.76 per cent in 2011 while in 2012 the share was only 9.6 per cent.
Vietnam identified poverty eradication as a national priority in 2007 when it issued the 2006-2010 National Target Programme on Poverty Reduction, aiming to reduce the 22 per cent of poor households at that time to 10 per cent in 2010. With the goal almost achieved, in 2011 authorities established the new 2011-2015 poverty reduction framework that focuses on providing families close above the poverty line, who were used to receive money transfers, with new tools that would improve their situation instead of expecting continued government assistance.
In this framework, the government announced the target of reducing poverty to 7.6 per cent in 2013, adding that related spending in the period 2011-2012 was around $512 million, among other support for health cards for ethnic minority communities, as well as students and children under 6 years. In addition, the government spent around $287 million on fee exemptions for low-income families, offering vocational training and preferential credit loans that have been effective tools to reduce poverty especially in rural areas.
Although these achievements are impressive, Valerie Kozel, Senior Economist for the World Bank, affirmed that other challenges are arising in the country. As she stated, in fact, “inequality is rising, and ethnic minority poverty remains persistently high. The remaining poor are harder to reach and they face difficult challenges of isolation, limited assets, low levels of education and poor health conditions”.
Vietnam is also experiencing a strong urbanisation process that is complicating the current poverty scenario. The country in 2009 had one of the highest urbanisation rates in Southeast Asia, with 25.4 million of the 88-million population living in urban centers. In 2014, the figure is expected climb to 39.7 million, and despite 99 per cent of the urban population has access to water, the infrastructure is not supporting this boom and the majority of jobs offered in urban centers are informal so they lack employment benefits such as health insurance and pension.
With new sorts of poverty arising that make public policies less effective, the government is adjusting its tools to these changes. As Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister, Vu Van Ninh, pointed out in April 2013, the main focus at present are families above the poverty line that need new tools to improve their condition, as well as households in rural areas that still lack access to education and health.
In this context, the Project 30a inaugurated in 2008 aimed at poverty reduction in the 62 poorest districts of the country plans to allocate new funds to six provinces in 2013. Thanks to this programme, the rate of households under the poverty line in those 62 districts decreased from 50.7 per cent in 2011 to 43.8 per cent in 2012.
