Vietnam’s 2021 average monthly income per capita falls to VND4.2 million

Prior to 2020, the average income per capita had been increasing year on year since 2010. The richest group had a monthly average income of VND9.2 million ($394), which is 8 times higher than that of the poorest group, according to data from the General Statistics Office.

Per capita income decreased in 2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the income structure had progressively shifted towards increasing the proportion of revenues from wages and salaries and decreasing the proportion of income from self-employment in agriculture, forestry, and fishery sectors, said Nguyen Thi Huong, director-general of General Statistics Office.

"Although the population's income has decreased, the poverty rate has decreased thanks to the Government's good implementation of social security policies", she emphasized.

In 2021 the average number of people per household is 3.6 people/household. The average number of households in rural areas is higher than in urban areas.

The higher the household income is, the lower the average number of people per household is. The region with the highest average number of people per household is the Northern Midlands and Mountains (4 people/household), and the lowest is the Southeast region (3.3 people/household).

In the 2010-2021 period, the average number of people per household declined slightly over the years, from 3.9 people/household in 2010 to 3.6 people/household in 2021.

In contrast to the decreasing trend of household size and the number of working-age people, the dependency ratio increased slightly in the period 2010-2021, from 0.55 in 2010 to 0.71 in 2021.

The average income per person per month in 2021 in urban areas will reach VND5.388 million, nearly 1.5 times higher than in rural areas.

Before 2019, per capita income constantly increased, but it tended to decrease gradually after 2019 due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The income decline rate in urban areas is higher than in rural areas.

The richest group has an average income of nearly VND9.2 million per person per month, which is 8 times higher than that of the poorest group.

The rate of poor households with a multidimensional approach in 2021 is 4.4%, down 0.4 percentage points compared to 2020. The Northern Midlands and Mountains is the region with the highest poverty rate (13.4%). The poverty rate has decreased continuously in the period 2016-2021, with an average annual decrease of about 1 percentage point.

The survey was conducted in 63 provinces and centrally-run cities, including 47.000 households representing the whole country, urban and rural areas, 6 regions, and provinces/cities directly under the Government.

Source: GSO