Ho Chi Minh City adjusts poverty standards, many surprising numbers

Resolution 15/NQ-HDND was just passed by the 10th Ho Chi Minh City People's Council at the 17th session, officially taking effect from October 1, 2024.

Resolution 15/NQ-HDND amending and supplementing a number of articles of Resolution 13/NQ-HDND dated December 9, 2020 of the City People's Council on the Ho Chi Minh City Sustainable Poverty Reduction Program for the period 2021-2025.

Resolution 15 adjusts multidimensional poverty measurement criteria to be similar to the national multidimensional poverty standards.

Currently, the multidimensional poverty standard of Ho Chi Minh City applied according to Resolution 13 has some criteria different from the national multidimensional poverty standard.

The national multidimensional poverty standard consists of 12 deprivation indicators. The city's multidimensional poverty standard has 10 deprivation indicators, of which 9 are the same as the national standard. 3 indicators (hygienic toilets, use of telecommunication services, means of accessing information) are not implemented because these 3 indicators have been completed.

In terms of income, the national poverty line for the 2022-2025 period is VND2 million/person/month for urban areas and VND1.5 million/person/month for rural areas. Meanwhile, the city poverty line is up to VND3 million/person/month (applied to the entire city) and includes an index of dependent deprivation.

The city's multidimensional poverty line is higher than the national line in one deficiency indicator: social insurance (households with people of working age who are working and have income but do not participate in social insurance).

After adjustment according to Resolution 15, the criteria for assessing the multidimensional poverty standard of Ho Chi Minh City are almost similar to the national multidimensional poverty standard.

However, the multidimensional poverty line of Ho Chi Minh City according to Resolution 15 still has differences with the national multidimensional poverty line. Specifically, the poverty line of Ho Chi Minh City according to Resolution 15 is still different in terms of income index and unemployment index (1 index more than the national poverty line).

Although this adjustment is not large, it still has a certain impact. After the adjustment of the assessment criteria, 753 households were classified as poor households according to Resolution 13 and became near-poor households according to Resolution 15.

Mr. Le Van Thinh, Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the labor sector will research and advise the City People's Committee to propose to the People's Council to issue support policies for these households for the remaining period of 2021-2025.

Support policies can be through expenditures such as electricity support, tuition fees, health insurance, etc. to help them truly escape poverty sustainably.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/an-sinh/tphcm-dieu-chinh-chuan-ngheo-nhieu-con-so-bat-ngo-20240914064054426.htm