Disability and Poverty in Vietnam

Abstract

Disability is significantly correlated with poverty in Vietnam, according to data from the 2006 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey, especially when the extra costs of living with a disability are taken into account. This disability-poverty link is also associated with lower educational attainment, an important factor in determining poverty and productive economic activity in general, both for household-based businesses and wage employment. Not taking into account these associations and the extra costs of disability will make some poor disabled people invisible in poverty statistics and impede efforts to reduce poverty. JEL codes: I12, I31, O15 Disability and poverty are linked in developing countries However, quantitative research in this area is usually hampered by the lack of good quality data on disability and corresponding data on consumption and other socioeconomic indicators, such as years of education.