Vietnam : A Widening Poverty Gap for Ethnic Minorities

Vietnam has one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world in recent years. However, ethnic groups in this country may not equally share the benefit of this wealth increase. Using data from household surveys in Vietnam, this paper offers an analysis of the welfare outcomes between ethnic groups in poverty, education, labor market participation, labor earnings, child labor, health, nutrition and social protection. Ethnic minority groups fare significantly worse than ethnic majority groups for most indicators. This paper concludes with some policy recommendations to narrow the ethnic gap