Assessing the Gains from Rural-Urban Migration in Viet Nam

Duration: 12 months (2013 - 2014)

Internal population mobility is a pillar of Viet Nam’s economic development model. Despite its role in fuelling economic development, labour migration is not integrated in Viet Nam’s core development strategies and is even perceived as a depletive phenomenon in the context of rural development. Unfortunately, there are numerous indicators that migration has not been effectively harnessed. Internal labour migration in Viet Nam is estimated to have risen by 47 per cent over the past decade, but the increase in mobility is not necessarily linked to greater income distribution between rural and urban provinces.

Consistent with the view that rural-urban migration is detrimental to rural development, the Government of Viet Nam launched an ambitious, country-wide strategy to promote development in rural areas, with the implicit goal of stemming migrant flows. The project aims to assess the cost and benefits of outmigration from rural areas on rural development in origin areas and develop recommendations for the Government’s New Rural Development Strategy.

The project falls under a Joint Programme between the United Nations and the Government of Vietnam toward implementation of the National Target Programme on New Rural Development (NTP-NRD) or ‘Tam Nong’.