The Determinants of Poverty and Vulnerability in Small-scale Fisheries Communities in Vietnam

Abstract

For the last two decades, Vietnam has achieved impressive progress in reducing the poverty rate, which is recognized as a major issue that has aroused the interest of researchers and policy-makers. Among all the various methods for detecting the determinants of poverty, the probit model is the most widely used one. The aim of this analysis is to find out the determinants of the poverty status at the household-level. Detailed data from fishing communities in Vietnam has been used, and the conclusion that household structure, human capital and primary activities are main factors, has been drawn. Beside, a measurement of a vulnerability index is induced to further analyze the poverty problem. The analysis of vulnerability shows that whether one household is vulnerable to poverty depends on their primary activities to gain income and their location and the households with high vulnerability have an evenly possibility to be poor and non-poor, but those with relatively lower vulnerability are highly possible to be better off.