Poverty and inequality in Vietnam

"This study uses a relatively new method called “small area estimation” to estimate various measures of poverty and inequality for provinces, districts, and communes of Vietnam. The method was applied by combining information from the 1997-98 Vietnam Living Standards Survey and the 1999 Population and Housing Census... Mapping the density of poverty reveals that, although the poverty rates are highest in the remote upland areas, these areas are sparsely populated so most of the poor live in the Red River Delta and the Mekong River Delta... This analysis confirms other studies indicating that the inequality in per capita expenditure is relatively low in Vietnam by international standards." -- from Authors' summary