Even It Up: how to tackle inequality in Vietnam

Publication date: 9 January 2017
Author: Nguyen Tran Lam

Vietnam has a strong record of poverty reduction, but today, increasing inequality is threatening decades of progress. Vietnam’s 210 super-rich earn more than enough in one year to lift 3.2 million people out of poverty and end extreme poverty in Vietnam. Economic inequality is reinforced by inequality of voice and opportunity, with the poorest excluded in favour of the rich.

Millions of people; ethnic minorities, small scale farmers, migrants and informal workers, and women, are more likely to remain poor and excluded from services and political decision making. To tackle the dangerous gap between rich and poor, Vietnam should urgently implement progressive policies on governance, taxation, public spending, public services, labour rights, and civic engagement.