Since the mid-1980s, Vietnam has recovered from war and emerged to become a market-oriented economy. In that time, the country has been through financial crisis as well as rapid growth. Living conditions have steadily improved and the number of people living in poverty has fallen substantially.
Significant improvements in health care have led to the eradication of Polio and a fall in the number of infant and maternal deaths.
95 per cent of the population now have access to safe drinking water.
93 per cent of adults are literate.
Dao28 per cent of Vietnam’s 88 million inhabitants are below the age of 18. Most attend primary and secondary school; most have access to adequate health care and can expect to live longer than their parents. But not everyone is benefitting equally from Vietnam’s prosperity. There are widening gaps between rich and poor, urban and rural areas and ethnic groups.
94 per cent of rural households have adequate sanitation facilities compared to 68 per cent in rural areas.
While only 13 per cent of the Kinh majority is thought to experience poverty, almost 70 per cent of the ethnic minority population is considered poor.