Assessment of multi-dimensional poverty in Quang Ngai province

Abstract

According to the multidimensional poverty line applied for the period 2016 - 2020, the quality of life of impoverished people in Quang Ngai province was dramatically low, forcing residents to face up to a serious shortage of basic social needs. Poverty in terms of their income was the main factor in the poverty structure of Quang Ngai province (generally over 90% of the total poor households). By 2020, the number of poor households who missed the criteria of hygienic toilets was the highest, accounting for 59.59% of the total number of poor households. The figures for the inaccessibility of the marginalized to basic needs were disproportionately high, with 40.64% people lacking telecommunications services such as telephones or the Internet, 40.59% using unhygienic water sources, 35.09% having a housing area per capita of less than 8 square meters and 33.53% living in temporary houses. The indicator with the least deficiency rate was the children’s schooling status and access to health services. However, the number of households whose members did not possess health insurance was extremely high, which might potentially bear the risk of households falling back into the poverty status when a member of the family gets a disease. Changes in multidimensional poverty show that although urban areas have a high rate of people escaping from poverty, the rate of households falling back to poverty status is also higher than that of rural areas; The rate of households falling into poverty in rural areas is much higher than that in urban areas. The Covid 19 pandemic and natural disasters which occurred in 2020 also significantly contributed to increasing the number of poor households. In order to reduce poverty and improve people's capacity to access basic social services, Quang Ngai province needs to pay attention to creating livelihoods, promoting the achievements of education universalization and the health insurance system, and improving the efficiency of investment in infrastructure on the basis of integrating the Target Programs.