Improving Measurement of Multidimensional Child Poverty in Vietnam

Leander, Sebastian Silva and Nguyen, Cuong Viet and Nguyen, Van-Anh Thi (2018): Improving Measurement of Multidimensional Child Poverty in Vietnam.

Abstract

This study analyses multidimensional child poverty in Vietnam, using a child-specific measure of poverty that captures the dimensions of wellbeing that are most relevant to children. Vietnam has experienced a rapid and robust decrease in multidimensional child poverty in recent years. All the indicators of multidimensional child poverty decreased over the period 2010-2014, except for a slight increase in calorie consumption. Multi-dimensional child poverty in Viet Nam sharply decreased in the period 2010-2014, with the proportion of children deprived in more than one fifth of the dimensions falling more than 10 percentage points. Although multi-dimensional child poverty has declined in different groups of children, the poverty gap among some groups of children remains high. For instance, the multidimensional poverty rate of ethnic minority children was 52.3%, while the Kinh majority was 12.3% (at the cut-off level of one fifth) by 2014.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Multidimensional poverty, child poverty, living standard, Vietnam
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development

References

Alkire, Sabina, and James Foster. (2011). "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement." Journal of Public Economics 95(7): 476-487.

Atkinson, A. B. (1999). “The contributions of Amartya Sen to welfare economics.” The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 101 (2), 173-190.

Bourguignon, Francois, and Satya R. Chakravarty (2003). "The measurement of multidimensional poverty." The Journal of Economic Inequality, 1(1): 25-49.

Larson, David A., and Walton T. Wilford. (1979). "The physical quality of life index: A useful social indicator?." World Development, 7(6): 581-584.

Ravallion, M. (2011). “On multidimensional indices of poverty.” The Journal of Economic Inequality, 9(2): 235-248.

Sen, A. K. (1985). “Well-being, agency and freedom: the Dewey lectures.” Journal of Philosophy, 82(4): 169-221.

UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) (2006) Promotion and protection of the rights of children, Report of the Third Committee, New York: United Nations.