At the workshop (Photo: PANO)
The figures were announced during the launching workshop “Multidimensional poverty in Vietnam: Reducing poverty in all its dimensions to ensure a good quality life for all” held by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Ministry of Labor, War-Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ethnic Minorities Committee and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) on December 19th.
The report at the workshop confirmed Vietnam’s impressive progress in realizing the sustainable development goal 1 (SDG1) by remarkably reducing extreme poverty from 49.2% in 1992 to 2% in 2016. Among 17 SDGs that Vietnam commits to realize by 2030, SDG1 on poverty reduction is the most likely to be realized. Poverty reduction achievements have helped Vietnam rank 57th among 193 UN member countries in terms of SDG index in 2018, increasing 9 rankings compared to 2017.
Realizing the role of other factors, besides income, to people’s quality of life, in 2015, the Vietnamese Government issued the multidimensional poverty standard, marking an important step in measuring income-based poverty to multidimensional poverty, making Vietnam one of the leading Asia - Pacific countries in applying multidimensional poverty in SDG1 realization.
Addressing the workshop, Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP acting permanent representative in Vietnam, praised Vietnam’s progress in poverty reduction as world level success. According to Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, Vietnam’s success has been recognized worldwide thanks to its inclusive growth and job creation for people, access to basic social services, and policies for the poorest and most vulnerable people.
However, poverty still remains in diverse areas, especially in ethnic minority-inhabited regions, while the poverty gap is still reported between Kinh and other ethnic minority groups.
Delegates at the workshop suggested that Vietnam can narrow the gap by expanding social services, and increasing business ability, access to finance and start-ups among ethnic minority people./.