This poverty assessment, presented in this book, takes a fresh look at the lives of poor men, women, and children and explores the constraints and opportunities they face in rising out of poverty. Building on a rich body of poverty analysis and an excellent base of knowledge from previous poverty assessments (in 1995, 2000, 2003, and 2008), it has three aims. First, it proposes revisions to Vietnam's poverty monitoring system, including better data, updated welfare aggregates, and new poverty lines, to bring the system more in line with economic and social conditions in present-day Vietnam. Second, it revisits the stylized facts about poverty and deprivation in Vietnam and develops an updated profile of poverty using data from the 2010 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) and new qualitative field studies. Third, it aims to forge a consensus around some of the key challenges for poverty reduction in the next decade, including changing regional patterns of poverty and wealth, high and persistent poverty among ethnic minorities, and rising inequality in outcomes and opportunities.

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