Vietnam has 53 ethnic minority groups with 14.2 million people or nearly 15% of the total population. Ethnic minorities live mainly in mountain, border, and remote areas of the country. The Party and State of Vietnam are committed to ensuring the comprehensive development of ethnic minority areas and narrowing the development gap between upland and lowland regions.

Multi-dimensional poverty reduction, moving toward sustainable poverty reduction

Since the 13th National  Party Congress, the Communist Party of Vietnam has implemented coordinated measures to ensure multi-dimensional, sustainable, inclusive poverty reduction, especially in ethnic minority areas. The National Target Program on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountain areas for the 2021-2030 period has been effectively implemented. Last year the State allocated nearly 1 billion USD to reduce poverty, improve the lives of the poor, ensure social security, and upgrade socio-economic infrastructure in rural, mountainous and ethnic minority areas in order to narrow the development gap between regions.

According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the number of poor households nationwide fell 1.5% last year while the poverty rate in ethnic minorities fell more than 3%, and in rural areas 5%.

Dao Van Khanh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Muong Te district, Lai Chau province, said: "Thanks to the support of the Government, ministries, and sectors, the lives of ethnic minorities have improved remarkably over the past years. The infrastructure has been inter-linked between regions to boost socio-economic development. New production models using new technology have been deployed."

Sustainable development policy deployed in Central Highlands

The Central Highlands is an important strategic area for national security and defense. It accounts for 16.8% of Vietnam’s territory and 6% of its population. Ethnic minorities account for nearly 37% of the local population. The Party and State have paid special attention to the Central Highlands and invested considerably in implementing national target programs on poverty reduction, clean water, environmental sanitation, and education in the region.

The program on rapid, sustainable poverty reduction for 62 poor districts (known as Program 30A), Programs 168 and 135, and other national target programs on building rural infrastructure, sedentary farming and settlement for ethnic minorities, Programs 132 and 134 on settlement of residential land, production land, houses and domestic water for ethnic minorities, and the National Target Program on New Rural Development have been strongly implemented.  

Pham Tran Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Gia Lai province, said: "The Department has consulted local administrations and Party Committee at the grassroots level to develop specific solutions to reduce poverty and effectively utilize resources allocated from the central budget. The Department has worked closely with social organizations at all levels to mobilize resources from businesses and the community to help the poor develop production"

Thanks to measures at all levels, the Central Highlands has maintained its economic growth and people's living standards have improved. Statistics of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs show that the poverty rate in the region was 15% with more than 230,000 poor households, last year.

Reduction of information poverty, backwardness

Vietnam’s poverty reduction over the past years has not been really sustainable and the rate of poverty relapse remains significant. The northern mountain and Central Highlands regions remain disadvantaged. Resources for poverty reduction in ethnic minority areas are spotty and preferential land, taxes, credits, and market support policies need to align with local conditions. Vietnam has sought a new approach to sustainable poverty reduction in ethnic minority areas, says Minister and Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs Hau A Lenh.

"To ensure sustainable poverty reduction, we need to closely follow the Party and State guidelines and effectively implement national target programs. The Committee for Ethnic Affairs is hosting the program on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountain regions. We have mobilized resources to implement the program and have drawn lessons learned from each implementation period to adjust the policy and make it more effective,' said Lenh.

One of the  main goals of the national target program on sustainable poverty reduction until 2025 is to strengthen information access for ethnic minorities. The sub-project on reducing information poverty sets a target of ensuring that 100% of communes with disadvantaged socio-economic conditions will have public information spots to ensure that essential information is provided for the public. Effective models and good practices on poverty reduction in ethnic minority regions have been deployed.