This is a key finding of the latest report on poor and near-poor households under the multi-dimensional poverty standards in Viet Nam in 2023.

The multi-dimensional poverty rate dropped to 5.71 percent, according to the report.

The northern midland and mountainous region was the poorest area, with the poverty rate standing at 18.2 percent; followed by the Central Highlands at 12.46 percent, the north-central and central coastal region at 8.03 percent, the Mekong Delta region at 4.15 percent, the Red River Delta region at 1.87 percent, and the southeast region, 0.23 percent.

Meanwhile, the overall national poverty ratio fell by 1.1 percent year on year to 2.93 percent, or 815,101 poor households.

The near-poor household was 2.78 percent, or 771.235 households.

Under a government decree on the new multi-dimensional poverty standards for the 2021-2025 period, the income-based poverty threshold for poor households is raised from VND700,000 (US$29.85) per person per month in rural areas, applicable in the 2016-2020 period, to VND1.5 million per person per month.

In urban areas, the threshold is VND2 million per person per month, compared with VND900,000 in the previous term.

The Prime Minister’s Decision 353/QD-TTg approves the list of poor districts and communes with special difficulties in the lowlands, coastal areas and islands in the 2021-2025 period. The list consists of 74 poor districts of 26 provinces in the period. Compared with the period 2018-2020, the number of poor districts in this period decreased by 11 districts.

2024 is a crucial year for the country to strive for targets set by the National Target Program on Poverty Reduction for the 2021-2025 period. It is also the time to propose medium-term public investment plans and poverty standards and poverty reduction directions for the 2026-2030 period, in line with the Directive of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on strengthening the Party leadership on sustainable poverty reduction until 2030.

The MOLISA set the goal of reducing the rate of poor households according to the multidimensional poverty standard by over 1 percent in 2024./.VGP