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WB: Indigenous people in VN less poor

VGP – Under the title “Indigenous Peoples, Poverty, and Development”, a new study of the World Bank (WB) has found that overall and indigenous poverty has declined significantly in China, India and Việt Nam.

May 04, 2010 3:08 PM GMT+7

Việt Nam’s sustainable growth and poverty reduction play key role in eliminating the indigenous poverty gap.

According to the WB, indigenous peoples are among the poorest of the world, who suffer from higher poverty, lower education, and a greater incidence of disease and discrimination than other groups of the society.

The study reckons, in Việt Nam, almost two-thirds of the population was poor in 1993. By 2006, only 16% of the population was classified as poor.

Asian countries such as China, India and Việt Nam relied less on targeted programs, preferring the adoption of strategies aimed at the economic growth of entire regions.   

The study's findings suggest that widespread and sustainable growth and poverty reduction play key role in eliminating the indigenous poverty gap. This means that policymakers might want to focus first on poverty reduction, which should benefit vast segments of indigenous populations. 

The authors of the study say that, as the global community looks for ways to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) of halving the share of people in poverty by 2015 from its 1990 level, it cannot afford to ignore the plight of Indigenous Peoples. Although they make up only 4.4% of the global population, they account for about 10% of the poor – with nearly 80% of them in Asia.

The study, released at the Ninth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) later last week in New York, offers a "global snapshot" of a set of indicators for Indigenous Peoples vis-à-vis national demographic averages./.