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How Progressive is Social Security in Viet Nam?
Author: UNDP: Martin Evans, Ian Gough, Susan Harkness, Andrew McKay, Huyen Thanh Dao and Ngoc Do Le Thu
Published Date: 2007-08-22
Summary:

This report for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ha Noi follows up on their Policy Dialogue  Paper  entitled  'Beyond  HEPR: A  Framework  for  an  Integrated  National  System of Social Security in Viet  Nam' published last  year, which  put  forward general principles  for  comprehensive  social security programmes in Viet Nam. This report is more empirical and uses recent household survey data from the Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) to examine who currently benefits from social security programmes and  their  overall  impact on  incomes  and  poverty. This  report  is  the  first  of  two complimentary  reports,  and  looks  at  the  whole population and  the entire  social security  system. Its  sister report, 'Old Age in Viet Nam', looks more specifically at the elderly population.

Viet Nam is experiencing rapid economic growth with GDP increasing from 4.8 percent in 1999 to 7.7 percent in 2004 Accompanying this growth have been large and impressive reductions in poverty rates: from 59 percent in 1993, to 29 percent 2002.and to around 20 percent in 2004.

This  introductory  chapter  looks  at  the  current  system  of  "social  security"  in  Viet  Nam and  focuses  on provisions that were in place in 2004, the year of the VHLSS survey data that is later described in Chapter 1 and used for analysis throughout later chapters. Chapter 2 then assesses two fundamental questions:  First, "How  important  is  social  security  for  household  welfare  across  regions,  quintiles,  and  the  urban-rural continuum?",  and  second,  "What  are  the  redistributive  consequences  of  social  security?" Chapter  3  then examines social security in relation to poverty and examines whether and to what extent Viet Nam's social security programmes contribute to poverty reduction across regions, quintiles, and the urban-rural continuum. Chapter 4 moves away from descriptive profiling of social security and makes some preliminary and tentative analytical examinations of the behavioural consequences of social security.  Last, Chapter 5 draws together the findings of our research into a summary and conclusions.

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