Norms for measuring multidimensional poverty line for 2021 remain unchanged as the Government extends the implementation of Decision No. 59/2015/QD-TTg dated November 19, 2015 on multidimensional poverty line for 2016-2020 period.

Under the new Decree, a person is considered poor if his/her monthly income is VND 1,500,000 and VND 2,000,000 for rural and urban areas, respectively.

He/she is deprived of access to six basic social services namely job, healthcare, education, housing, clean water and sanitation, and information, up one service from the current norms.

The Decree specifies 12 indicators measuring level of deprivation of access to basic social services: access to job, number of dependents, nutrition, health insurance, education level of adults, school attendance of children, housing quality, average housing area per capita, residential water sources, hygienic latrines and toilets, telecom services; and assets to serve information access.

Poor households, medium households

In rural areas, a household is poor if it has a monthly per capita income of VND 1,500,000 or lower and at least three indicators measuring deprivation of access to basic social services.

In urban areas, a household is poor if it has a monthly per capita income of VND 2,000,000 or lower and at least three indicators measuring deprivation of access to basic social services.

A medium household in rural areas is one that has a monthly per capita income of between over VND1,500,000 to VND 2,250,000.

A medium household in urban areas is one that has a monthly per capita income of between over VND 2,000,000 to VND 3,000,000.

Viet Nam is the first 30 pioneering countries in the world and the country in Asia in adopting multi-dimensional poverty approach.

The country has been widely recognized by the international community as a success story in poverty reduction with the poverty rate dropping to 2.75% in 2020 from 70% in 1990.

It ranked first in ASEAN in terms of spending on social welfare, according to Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung.