VietNamNet Bridge – In 2014, over 1.4 million households in Viet Nam were hit by poverty, accounting for 5.97% of the total, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MoLISA).

Illustrative image -- File photo

In its updated report on poor and nearly-poor households in 2014, the MoLISA announced that the poverty rate dropped by 1.83% against 2013. The number of nearly-poor households was only 1.3 million, representing 5.62% and year-on-year decline of 0.7%.

The investigation was conducted in 63 provinces and cities in all eight regions of the Northwest, Northeast, Red River Delta, North Central Coast, South Central Coast, Central Highlands, Southeast, and Mekong River Delta.

The outcomes showed that the Northwest had the highest poverty rate with 22.76%; followed by the Northeast with 11.96%; the Central Highlands with 10.22%; the North Central Coast with 9.26%; the South Central Coast with 8%; the Mekong River Delta with 5.48%; the Red River Delta with 2.57%; and the Southeast with 0.66%.

Especially, no poor household has been found in Da Nang, HCMC, and Binh Duong. Meanwhile, Ha Noi, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau had the lowest poverty rates.

However, high poverty rates were recorded at Dien Bien (32.57%); Son La (23.94%); Lai Chau (23.48%); and Ha Giang (23.21%).

The number of poor households was 109,604 in urban areas (accounting for 7.71%); over 1.3 million in rural areas (92.29%).

The investigation is expected to provide a basis for other social welfare policies in 2015.

Earlier, the PM issued an action plan to implement the National Assembly‘s Resolution 76/2014/QH13 on the achievement of the sustainable poverty reduction goal by 2020 with a view to reducing national poverty rate to under 5% in 2015

VGP