Poverty and inequality in Vietnam | Land Portal

Resource information

Date of publication: 
January 2006
ISBN / Resource ID: 
125230
Pages: 
72 pages
Copyright details: 
IFPRI adheres to the basic tenets of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, articulated in 2002 (subject to any applicable third-party rights and or confidentiality obigations). All applicable data are subject to IFPRI’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines. Copyright © 2013 International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). All rights reserved.

This study uses a relatively new method called “small area estimation” to estimate various measures of poverty and inequality for provinces, districts, and communes of Vietnam. The method was applied by combining information from the 1997-98 Vietnam Living Standards Survey and the 1999 Population and Housing Census... Mapping the density of poverty reveals that, although the poverty rates are highest in the remote upland areas, these areas are sparsely populated so most of the poor live in the Red River Delta and the Mekong River Delta... This analysis confirms other studies indicating that the inequality in per capita expenditure is relatively low in Vietnam by international standards. Inequality is greatest in the large cities and (surprisingly) in parts of the upland areas. Inequality is lowest in the Red River Delta, followed by the Mekong Delta. Just one-third of the inequality is found between districts and two-thirds within them, suggesting that district-level targeting of anti-poverty programs may not be very effective... Finally, the study notes that the small area estimation method is not very useful for annual poverty mapping because it relies on census data, but it could be used to show detailed spatial patterns in other variables of interest to policymakers, such as income diversification, agricultural market surplus, and vulnerability. Furthermore, it can be used to estimate poverty rates among vulnerable populations too small to be studied with household survey data, such as the disabled, small ethnic minorities, or fishermen.

Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Minot, Nicholas

Publisher(s): 

About IFPRI


The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Established in 1975, IFPRI currently has more than 500 employees working in over 50 countries. It is a research center of theCGIAR Consortium, a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development.


Data provider

About IFPRI


The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Established in 1975, IFPRI currently has more than 500 employees working in over 50 countries. It is a research center of theCGIAR Consortium, a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development.


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