Vietnam’s Human Development Continues to Improve

Vietnam’s Human Development Continues to Improve

Vietnam’s Human Development Index (HDI) continues to improve according to the Human Development Report (DHR) 2004, entitled Cultural Liberty in Today’s Diverse World, released in July in Hanoi. According to this year’s report, Vietnam’s HDI increased to 0.691 from 0.686 in previous years, enabling the country to maintain its medium development ranking of 112 out of 177 countries.

The higher HDI value for Vietnam in the HDR 2004 reflects the increases in the estimates of life expectancy (from 68.6 to 69.0) and the GDP per capita (PPP $)  between 2001 and 2002 from US$2,210 to US$2,300, according to the revised, comparable trend data.

The Report makes special note of the ability of Vietnam to translate its income into human development: “Countries at the same level of income have large differences in HDI - Vietnam has roughly the same income as Pakistan but a much higher HDI, due to its higher life expectancy and literacy.”

Vietnam has seen considerable improvements since 1985 in its Human Development Index, which measures achievements in key areas of human development, such as the standard of living, health and education. Vietnam’s HDI has continued to steadily improve since the mid-1980s, from 0.583 in 1985 to 0.605 in 1990, 0.649 in 1995 and 0.691 more recently.

Concerning the HDR’s Human Poverty Index, which attempts to assess the percentage of the population suffering from a variety of basic deprivations and analyses 95 developing countries for which there is adequate available data, Vietnam ranks 41 in this year’s Report.

The Report argues that to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and ultimately eradicate poverty, the world must first successfully confront the challenge of building inclusive and culturally diverse societies.

The Report calls for nations with multi-ethnic groups to promote policies that address socioeconomic inequalities in income, education and health.

Jordan Ryan, the UNDP resident representative noted: “The message of the new Human Development Report is clear. To foster human development nations must recognize and embrace cultural diversity. Multicultural societies offer positive opportunities to build culturally richer and more vibrant communities, and demonstrate that it is possible to maintain unity alongside diversity and stability alongside cultural freedom.”

In Vietnam, respect for ethnic and cultural diversity is enshrined in the Constitution and in legislation. The government is strongly committed to closing the ethnic economic gap by recognizing the need for targeted interventions in favour of disadvantaged groups, including ethnic minority people. Among key national poverty reduction programmes, the “Poor Communes with Extreme Difficulties in Mountainous and Remote Areas, (known as Programme 135) coordinated by the Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas, directly targets the 1,000 poorest communes in remote and mountainous areas.

However despite the country’s rapid economic growth and the government’s efforts, poverty is extremely high and prevails among ethnic minority groups who constitute only 14 percent of the population but account for more than 30 percent of the poor. The reasons for this are multiple and inter-related: geographical isolation and remoteness, and limited access to credit, productive assets and quality social services.

Ensuring the entitlement of individual and collective land-use rights in ethnic minority and mountainous areas is another key factor in improving livelihoods and food security in these areas. The allocation of land, especially “forest land”, is a critical issue for minority groups whose livelihoods depend on hillside agriculture and forest use. The main challenge is to develop a process of land allocation that is equitable and transparent. It must build on local land use practices and devolve ownership and management responsibility to user groups.

Holding 17.3 percent of seats in the National Assembly, ethnic minorities enjoy a level of political representation higher than their actual percentage of the total population (14 percent). At the local level, their participation is lower but increasing, especially in light of the recently amended Law on Election of Deputies to People’s Councils, which seeks to increase the political representation of ethnic minority peoples at the local level.

Increased efforts are required to boost the representation of personnel of ethnic origin in government services and structure. This could be facilitated through specialised training, career development and increased participation of ethnic groups in local authorities and service delivery functions.

As noted by Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of UNDP, “this report seeks to address one of the most fundamental challenges of our time: how to build a world where, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu has it, we can find ways to delight in our differences.” In today’s culturally diverse community in which cultural liberty and social and economic progress not only coexist, but reinforce each other, the challenge of building stable societies has never been more important to peoples everywhere.”

Mr Ryan noted: “In an inverse and globalising world, if Vietnam is to build an “advanced culture imbued with the national identity” in line with the Party’s resolution, the key to success is to tap the internal strength of its multiple and diverse cultures while also keeping the country open to new peoples, cultures and ideas”.

Vietnam’s Human Development Index

Table 1

Table 2

 (Source: UNDP)

• Bich Loan