New Tool for Measuring Poverty Comes Under Discussion

Participants at a workshop held today in this central city discussed ways to perfect a new tool that identifies poor and near-poor households in Viet Nam for the 2016-20 period. Nguyen Viet Cuong from the World Bank said the tool should define poor and near-poor households by applying a method that measures the characteristics of each household and the property they own. For example, several items could be added to the assets declaration paper, especially for households in rural areas, to determine whether they own assets, such as cattle or a grocery store, Cuong said. Pham Minh Thu from the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs said the statistics agency should be asked to co-operate in identifying the poverty rate and number of poor households. Ngo Truong Thi, chief of the National Co-ordination Office on Poverty Reduction, said poor and near-poor households were currently defined only by income levels. As a result, attempts at poverty identification may result in inaccuracies, Thi said. However, the new tool will evaluate poor and near-poor households by using multi-dimensional poverty measurement, Thi said. A Government decision, dated 2011, maintained that in Viet Nam's urban areas, a poor household is defined as having an income below VND500,000 ($23) per head per month, whereas a near-poor household is defined as having an income of less than VND650,000 per head per month. In rural areas, a poor household has an income of less than VND400,000 ($18) per head per month, whereas a near-poor household has an income of less than VND520,000 per head per month. The workshop was co-organized by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the World Bank. (Vietnam News April 10)