FACTORS AFFECTING ECONOMIC WELL-BEING AMONG POOR AND NON-POOR HOUSEHOLDS

Abstract

This paper focuses on examining the key factors affecting the living standards of Vietnam at the household-level in 2010. In this study, the multiple linear regression model was used to determine the impacts of variables related to the household characteristics, main jobs of heads, and the access of public services on the monthly per capita expenditure of the poor and non-poor based on the data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey 2010. The empirical findings indicate that in 2010 the expenditure per capita of the poor and non-poor households was affected by many factors, including education and qualification level, region, ethnicity, size of household, working member proportion and water source. However, the empirical study shows that although employment sector was one of the determinants of per capita expenditure of the non-poor households, it had an insignificant impact on per capita expenditure of the poor households.