Equal opportunities for all children in Vietnam? Assessing the distribution of child poverty from a monetary and multidimensional perspective

Abstract

Despite two decades of rapid economic growth in Vietnam, child poverty remains a sizeable problem. This article investigates the distribution of child poverty and the existence of horizontal inequalities over a variety of groups in Vietnam using a multitude of poverty measures. Findings suggest that the burden of child poverty is unequally shared by demographic and socio-economic groups. Conclusions about the degree of inequality and the groups that are disproportionately affected depend on the poverty indicator used for analysis. The set of poverty indicators provides complementary information to gain an in-depth understanding of the distribution of child poverty in Vietnam.