Vietnam Household Survey

Vietnam

Vietnam had a population of 76.5 million, 35 percent of whom are children in 2000. [47]   In recent years, women’s participation in the labor market has continued to increase from already high levels, rising from 75 percent in 1980 to 79 percent in 1995. [48]   While a majority of Vietnam’s population remains rural, increasing numbers of rural residents are migrating to cities in search of higher-wage jobs and the actual numbers are probably higher than official statistics because “unregistered” citizens are overrepresented in urban areas. [49] ^, [50]  The UN estimates that by 2025 the percentage of Vietnam’\’s population living in cities will be double what it is today. [51]   In the late 1980s, the government of Vietnam initiated a series of far-reaching economic reforms.  These reforms, involving increased economic freedoms and reduced government spending, are widely credited with having spurred Vietnam’s high economic growth rate of 7.8 percent in the 1990s. [52]

Accompanying Vietnam’s economic transformation has been the growth of industry, which nearly doubled as a percentage of gross domestic product from 1989 to 1999. [53]   In Vietnam, working hours in many industries range from ten to twelve hours per day, six days per week. [54]   Another element of Vietnam’s economic transition that potentially threatens working families is the reduction in government spending on services such as health care, education, and child care, leading to the reduction in availability or the imposition of user fees for these services. [55] , [56]

In recent years, however, numerous studies have raised questions about working conditions in rapidly industrializing countries. [57] ^, [58] We analyzed data on work and family conditions from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey 1997/98.  The Survey, conducted by the General Statistics Office in collaboration with the World Bank, sampled 28,633 individuals in 6,002 households. [59] Of the 6,002 households interviewed, we analyzed 2,105 households that had a child between birth and age five, and 4,209 that had at least one child between birth and age fourteen. 

Please see Table 10 for a description of the survey sample we analyzed.

Table 10. Demographic Characteristics
Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey 1997/98
	Adults	Children
	(18 and older)	(17 or younger)
Age (years)
Mean	40.5	9.7
Range	18-99	0-17
Highest education level (%)
Preschool or no education	10.6	6.3
Primary (5 years)	33.5	52.4
Lower secondary (9 years)	34.9	33.9
Higher secondary (12 years)	16.2	7.4
College and above	4.8	0
Ethnicity of household head (%)
Kinh	86	-
Tay	1.7	-
Thai	0.9	-
Chinese	2.2	-
Khmer	1.6	-
Other	7.5	-
Number of under 18 children in household (%)
0	20.3	0
1	23.7	11.3
2	26.1	28.7
3	16.8	27.9
4 or more	13.1	32.2
Marital status (%)
Never married	23.6	-
Married	66	-
Separated	0.9	-
Divorced	1.1	-
Widowed	8.5	-
Per capita household expenditure (%)
Below Median	49.1	62.5
Above Median	50.9	37.5
Notes: Data on ethnicity is available only for the household head.

Measures analyzed

In addition to the analyses described that were conducted in all countries, we examined social and family supports (as measured by the existence of nonworking, healthy grandparents living in the household).  We also examined the frequency of common childhood illnesses among 0 to 4 year olds and the availability of workplace benefits - specifically, paid medical leave.

In addition, our analyses included an examination of children’s school and early childhood program enrollment rates, whether children were immunized, whether children were breastfed and duration of breastfeeding, and their relationship to the household members’ work status. 

This survey had detailed questions on family illness burden, which we analyzed.  They included the occurrence of health problems in the two weeks preceding the survey, the number of household members who had stopped normal activities due to health problems in the previous thirty days, the number of days of work/school missed due to health problems, and whether any children younger than fourteen had had an illness or injury in the previous thirty days.

Lastly, this data source contained questions regarding migration from which we could ascertain whether respondents moved from the province at birth, from rural to urban and vice versa. 

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[47] World Bank Group.  World Development Indicators 2000. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2000

[48] International Labour Organization. Key Indicatory Indicators of the Labor Market. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO, 1999.

[49] Wong TC.  Urbanisation and Sustainability of Southeast Asian Cities, In: Wong TC and Singh M (eds) Development and Change: Southeast Asia in the New Millennium.  Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1999.

[50] Bui Thi Kim Quy. The Vietnamese Woman in Vietnam's Process of Change.  In: Barry K (ed) Vietnam's Women in Transition. New York: St. Martin's, 1996.

[51] United Nations. World Urbanization: The 1994 Revision. New York: United Nations, 1995.

[52] World Bank Group.  World Development Indicators 2000. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2000

[53] World Bank Group.  World Development Indicators 2000. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2000

[54] Noerlund I. The Labour Market in Vietnam: Between State Incorporation and Autonomy.  In: Schmidt J, Hersh J, and Fold N (eds) Social Change in Southeast Asia. Essex, UK: Addison Wesley Longman, 1998.

[55] World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and UNDP. Vietnam 2010: Entering the Twenty-First Century. Washington, DC, 2001.

[56] Chandrasiri S and de Silva A. Globalization, Employment and Equity: The Vietnam Experience. Geneva: International Labour Organization, 1995.

[57] Deyo FC. Beneath the Miracle: Labor Subordination in the New Asian Industrialism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

[58] Chen MS and Chan A. Market economics in command: Footwear workers' health in jeopardy. International Journal of Health Services, 1999. 29(4): 793-811.

[59] For more information on the Vietnam Living Standards Survey, 1997/98, see:  http://www.worldbank.org/html/prdph/lsms/country/vn98/vn98docs.html  Accessed: April 1, 2003.

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