Ethnic minority development in Vietnam

This study examines the disparities in living standards between and among the different ethnic groups in Vietnam. Using data from the Vietnam Living Standards Surveys and 1999 Census, we show that "majority' Kinh and Hoa households have substantially higher living standards than 'minority' household from Vietnam's 52 other ethnic groups. While the Kinh, Hoa, Khmer and Northern Highland Minorities benefited from economic growth in the 1990s, the position of the Central Highland Minorities stagnated. Decompositions show that event if minority households had the same endowments as Kinh households, this would close no more than a third of the gap in their per capita expenditures. While some ethnic minority seem to be doing well out a strategy of assimilating with the Kinh-Hoa majority, others groups are attempting to integrate economically while retaining district cultural identities and a third group is largely being left behind by the growth process.