Life in Viet Nam

What these numbers mean

A newborn in Viet Nam can expect to live 74.7 years, close to the dataset median of 74.7 years. Infant mortality runs at 12.0 deaths per 1,000 live births (2024), so roughly 12 in every thousand babies do not reach their first birthday. Output per person, adjusted for purchasing power, is $16,388 (2024) — which puts the country in the lower half of the dataset on purchasing power, and it is what sets the scale of every income the simulation can offer. The fertility rate is 1.90 births per woman (2024) — below replacement level, so the simulation's households tend to be small. Adult literacy stands at 96.1% (2022), so schooling in the simulation starts close to universal here. 1.6% of the population lives below the national poverty line (2022), so the poorest tier in the simulation is a minority position here rather than the norm. Public spending on education is 2.9% of output (2022), which is the share of national resources the simulation's schooling decisions are competing for. 38.5% of people live in urban areas (2024), so most lives here begin in a village or a small town, and moving is one of the larger decisions available.

In the simulation, income is expressed as a share of what an average worker in Viet Nam earns, so the same household choice buys very different amounts in different countries. Median output per person across this dataset is $21,026.

Background groups in Viet Nam

These are the official classifications this country publishes. The simulation applies a difference between them only where a published statistic supports one — it never treats any group as better or worse than another.

• Kinh and other majority-group households
  Basis: Vietnam census ethnic classification · 86% of the population

  The majority group, with outcomes close to the national averages used in the simulation.

  Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam; World Bank Poverty & Equity Brief

• Ethnic minority highland households
  Basis: Vietnam census ethnic classification (aggregated) · 14% of the population

  A collection of many distinct peoples, most of them in the Central Highlands. School completion is markedly lower, poverty is concentrated here, and access to services is limited by terrain.

  Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam; World Bank Poverty & Equity Brief

Where Viet Nam sits within East Asia & Pacific

Of the 37 countries in East Asia & Pacific that report life expectancy, Viet Nam sits above the regional median, at 74.7 years against a regional median of 73.0. 15 countries report a higher figure and 21 report a lower one.

Ranges cover every country in the region that reports the indicator, in the year each country last reported it. Medians are unweighted, so a large country and a small one count the same.