ABSTRACT
With the introduction of the Doi Moi (renewal) process in 1986, Vietnam moved to accelerate its transition from a centrally-planned economy into a ‘socialist-oriented market economy’. Since then there have been tremendous changes in the Vietnamese economy and in society. In the last 20 years, Vietnam has been one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. It achieved growth of 7.1 per cent in its gross domestic product (GDP) between 1990 and 2009 (ADB 2011). In this same period, the national poverty rate declined, falling from 58 per cent in 1993 to around 10 per cent in 2010. Government spending on social protection – including basic social services such as education – reached 4.7 per cent of the GDP in 2011. But despite its successful poverty alleviation in the past decades, there are still huge challenges ahead, such as socio-economic, demographic and practical challenges – as will be shown in the following.
