Poverty Dynamics: The Structurally and Stochastically Poor in Vietnam

Abstract

This paper aims to measure the poverty dynamics in Vietnam using the most recent Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey in 2010. Since, there are no panel data between the 2010 VHLSS and the previous studies, the study uses the asset approach of Carter and May (1999, 2001) to estimate the proportion of the structurally and stochastically poor. It is found that the proportion of the structurally and stochastically poor is 11.1 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively. Nearly half of the poor are the stochastically poor. The proportion of the stochastically non-poor, who are non-poor but vulnerable to poverty, is small, at around 3.7 percent