Seminar on Human Development in Vietnam: Empirical Results for Ethnic Groups and Provinces

A seminar on  Human Development in Vietnam: Empirical Results for Ethnic Groups and Provinces  will be held at 9.00 a.m., Sep 22 2016 at Mekong Development Research Institute (MDRI) – Floor 8, Machinco Building, 444 Hoàng Hoa Thám, Tây Hồ, Hà Nội.

The presenter at the seminar is Professor Mark McGillivray, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, Australia.

Interested parties may contact Ms. Linh Nguyen for registration and more information at linhnguyen@mdri.org.vn or +84 4 3247 4668 by 4.oo pm Sep 21, 2016.

Research abstract

Human Development Index (HDI) scores have been published for more than 190 nations since 1990,

Professor Mark McGillivray
Research Professor Of International Development
Alfred Deakin Institute
Faculty of Arts and Education

following the publication of the UNDP Human Development Report 1990. Sub-national HDI scores for individual countries are relatively scarce. This paper attempts to help offset this imbalance by calculating HDI scores for Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups and 63 provinces for the years 1999 and 2009. These scores are for a geometric mean representation of the HDI, which assumes imperfect substitution between the achievements in longevity, knowledge and material living standards that it aggregates. The same HDI representation has been using by the UNDP since its Human Development Report 2010. This paper also calculates various inequality indices using these HDI scores. Results show improvements in HDI scores for all ethnic groups and provinces between 1999 and 2009. While some very large disparities between HDI scores are reported, inequality among provinces and ethnic groups declines over this period. These declines are robust with respect to the choice of inequality index. Not surprisingly, remote mountainous provinces in the North and ethnic groups that are concentrated in them tend to have the lowest HDI scores. There are substantial changes in relative HDI scores among provinces. For example, Hai Duong was ranked 12th among provinces in 1999 and 1st in 2009, while Ha Noi was ranked 1st in 1999 and 18th in 2009. These are among the many very interesting results reported in the paper.