Growth that works for all: Viet Nam Human Development Report 2015 on Inclusive Growth

The 2015 National Human Development Report “Growth that works for all” examines how a policy framework based on inclusive growth can offer a pathway to advance human development in Viet Nam - as it enters a new and challenging stage of its development. Using the lens of human development, this report takes a people-centered approach, examining Vietnamese people’s inclusion in the country’s development process since the late 1980s. The report finds that in the early and mid Doi Moi years Viet Nam performed well on both human development and economic growth. Economic expansion was inclusive, with benefits widely distributed and opportunities shared. Yet in recent years, the report finds that Viet Nam’s strong performance has waned, and especially after the 2008 global financial crisis. Growth has fallen and disparities between regions, provinces and population groups have not been closed. While the past growth has brought significant social transformation, evident in the shrinking population shares of the poor and near poor, and the rapid expansion of the lower middle class, those in the middle are far from secure, and those still in poverty are harder to reach, particularly within remote ethnic minority communities.