What monthly income level qualifies a household as poor?

At the workshop on May 28th, the organizers announced the results of a survey on the living standards of over 600 households in three areas: Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau. The survey revealed that the average income of poor and near-poor households in Ho Chi Minh City is currently around 3.7 million VND per month. This figure reflects a significant gap, only half of the average income of the city's residents (over 7.1 million VND per month).

Following the merger and expansion of its administrative boundaries, Ho Chi Minh City has a very low proportion of agriculture in its GRDP, with an economic structure heavily influenced by urban, industrial, and service sectors. The price level and cost of living in the South are also consistently 25% to 35% higher than the national average.

Mr. Nguyen Van Da, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Environment (on the left), emphasized that an appropriate poverty standard will help accurately identify disadvantaged groups in order to allocate resources effectively. Photo: LN

To ensure a realistic minimum standard of living for the people, the research agency proposed applying a unified income standard for both rural and urban production streams. According to the chosen option, the new income standard is expected to be 4 million VND/person/month (equivalent to 48 million VND/person/year). This coefficient is approximately 1.43 times higher than the national urban poverty line. Raising this income floor is projected to increase the percentage of new poor and near-poor households in the entire city to approximately 4.6% of the total number of households.

In his opening remarks at the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Van Da, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Environment, emphasized: "Defining the multidimensional poverty standard is not only a technical issue in statistics but also a matter of great policy significance. A suitable poverty standard will help accurately identify disadvantaged groups, determine the correct level of deprivation to allocate and mobilize resources effectively, and avoid spreading resources too thinly."

Besides income as a measure, the new poverty line also restructures the dimensions of deprivation in basic social services. The city has agreed to maintain six dimensions of well-being: employment, healthcare, education , housing, information, and access to clean water and sanitation.

Experts and delegates contributed ideas to finalize the new multidimensional poverty standard for the period 2027-2030. Photo: L.Ngoc

A new development for the 2027-2030 period is Ho Chi Minh City's proposal to remove the "Social Insurance" index from the criteria for identifying poor households. The reason is that, after two implementation phases, the rate of reduction in this index has been very low because the majority of poor laborers work in precarious, seasonal jobs. Instead of using it as a rigid assessment criterion, the city will shift to providing support through specific policies, subsidizing 25% to 30% of voluntary social insurance contributions to help people accumulate long-term social security.

The new multidimensional poverty standard, once finalized, will be submitted to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for official issuance, serving as the basis for implementing specific livelihood support and poverty reduction policies from 2027.

Source: https://danviet.vn/thu-nhap-bao-nhieu-mot-thang-thi-duoc-xem-la-ho-ngheo-d1430421.html