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Rural poverty in Viet Nam Despite recent economic gains, Viet Nam remains a low-income country. Reforms have helped decrease the incidence of poverty from about 58 per cent in 1993 to 32 per cent in 2000, but progress remains precarious. A significant proportion of Vietnamese people live just above the poverty line. Even slight variations in the definition of poverty can push them over that line, sending the poverty rate up. Viet Nam is primarily an agrarian society. More than three quarters of the population, and 90 per cent of poor people overall, live in rural areas, mainly near river deltas. Almost 80 per cent of the country's poor people depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Rural poor people generally have small plots of low-quality land or are landless, and opportunities for off-farm employment are scarce. The poorest people live in remote villages, often in upland areas, with limited access to transportation and social interaction. Rural poor people have limited access to productive resources and basic financial services, such as credit and savings. Village, commune, district and regional infrastructure is poorly developed. Rural poor people face harsh natural conditions and frequent natural disasters. They are particularly vulnerable to seasonal hardships, community-wide crises and unexpected events, such as disease, which increase a household's expenses and reduce income. Poor households tend to include more dependants, especially children. Among age groups, poverty disproportionately affects children. Poor people, particularly ethnic minorities, are often uninformed about their rights and lack access to legal assistance. Who are Viet Nam's rural poor and where are they located? The poorest people in Viet Nam include:
Women of ethnic minorities in rural areas are hardest hit by poverty. In general, poverty affects women more severely than men. Women lack decision-making power, have less education and have fewer opportunities than men. They bear heavy workloads and have no voice in household matters, including the crucial issue of reproduction, or in community affairs. There are broad regional variations in the distribution of poverty. The regions with the highest relative poverty rates include the north-west, north-central, central highlands, central coast and north-east. But in terms of absolute numbers, more poor people live in the north-central and north-east regions, in the Mekong Delta and central coastal regions, which are home to seven out of ten of Viet Nam's poor people. Source: IFAD |
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