Vietnam Spends $419M on Social Welfare in 2012, up 174% on year

The Vietnamese government has spent a total VND8.8 trillion ($419 million) on social security and poverty reduction this year, surging by 174% from a year earlier, said the General Statistics Office.Of the sum, VND1.3 trillion was for assisting people who have rendered service to the nation in getting health insurance and other social services, VND1 trillion for supporting poor families and VND6.5 trillion for famine relief and other social welfare programs.Thanks to government support, between-crop hunger in rural areas has been curbed considerably. During the year, total number of households facing food shortage is 450,300, down 27.6% on year. The percentage of poor households nationwide this year is estimated at between 11.3%-11.5%, falling by 1.1%-1.3% from a year earlier.poverty reduction in Vietnam remains a priority as new forms of poverty are emerging and driving the inequality gap wider, experts said, urging that the government combine poverty eradication with disaster mitigation because they are closely linked.By March 2012, up to 2.58 million households were deemed poor and 1.53 million near-poor, as shown in a national survey by the Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA). (baodientu.chinhphu.vn Dec 26)