Study says Vietnam poverty lower than thought HANOI - One quarter of Vietnam's people live in poverty, although poverty levels have been falling for more than a decade, a report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) shows. The ILO, in a paper entitled 'Agrarian Transition in Vietnam' said 24.5 percent of Vietnam's population were poverty stricken, but this was well below a level of 50 percent calculated by the World Bank. ``All indicators show that poverty levels have declined continuously since the mid-1980s,'' the report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, said. It added that the turning point for poverty alleviation in the communist-ruled country of 79 million people had been the introduction from 1980 of limited agricultural reforms and the later Doi Moi (economic restructuring) package that introduced a new market-style economy. ``Paddy (unhusked rice) production increased by 55 percent in per capita terms between 1980 amd 1995, which translates to 64 percent per capita of farm population,'' the report said. ``With the rapid growth of output, agricultural incomes have increased and rural poverty fallen,'' it added. Life expectancy had increased to 68 in 1994 from 63 in 1980, while infant mortality had fallen to 55 per 1,000 live births in 1996 from 82 in 1977-83. The report defined the poverty line as 2,100 calories per person per day with an extra 262,000 dong ($18.9) annually for non-food needs. Urban poverty at 9.9 percent was significantly lower than in rural areas where the figure rose to 28.2 percent. The poorest part of the country was found in northern central provinces with 40.2 percent of people living below the poverty line, while the southeast at 11.2 percent was the best off, the report said. It said not only farmers suffered poverty, but the self-employed and wage earners too. The development of a new informal, or private, sector was lauded but the report called for more proactive policies to help nurture growth. ``The sector has shown a great degree of dynamism, absorbing the bulk of the retrenchees from the public sector pursuant upon the reforms,'' it said. ``Proactive policies in favour of the informal sector are called for in place of the present policy which could only be characterised as 'benign neglect','' the report said. Such policies would include easier access to credit so that the private sector could play a more productive role in the development of the country, rather than acting simply as a sponge to mop up new workers coming onto the job market, it added. Reuters - April 22, 1999.