An analysis of interprovincial migration in Vietnam from 1989 to 2009

Figures & data

Table 1. Main characteristics of internal migrants aged 5 years and older in Vietnam, National Census, 2009

Characteristics	Interprovincial migrants	Interdistrict migrants	Intradistrict migrants
Number of internal migrants	6,724,960
Number of migrants (%)	3,397,904 (50.5%)	1,708,896 (25.4%)	1,618,160 (24.1%)
Age (median)	24	25	26
Male	24	27	29
Female	23	24	25
Gender (%)
Male	47.0	43.4	36.4
Female	53.0	56.6	63.6
Housing status (%)
Simple	28.5	27.1	28.1
Semi-permanent	48.5	41.2	40.5
Permanent	23.0	31.6	31.4
Safe water for drinking and cooking (%)	94.5	92.0	86.8
Toilet facilities (%)
None	3.4	4.1	7.0
Other (non-hygienic toilet)	13.4	17.4	30.5
Hygienic toilet	83.3	78.5	62.6

All differences among migrant populations are statistically significant with p < 0.001.

Table 2. Main characteristics of internal migrants aged 5 years and older, comprising 8.6% of the whole population, by migration flows and using Vietnam National Census data, 2009

Characteristics	Rural-to-rural	Rural-to-urban	Urban-to-urban	Urban-to-rural
Proportion of migrants (%)	33.7	31.6	26.3	8.4
Age (median)	24	23	28	27
Age groups (%)
Under 20 years	22.3	24.8	20.1	17.3
20–40 years	67.2	66.7	59.9	63.6
Over 40 years	10.5	8.5	20.0	19.1
Gender (%)
Male	39.3	44.8	46.3	48.4
Female	60.7	55.2	53.7	51.6
Ethnic group
Kinh	84.3	95.2	96.0	93.9
Tay	2.4	1.1	0.6	1.4
Thai	2.7	0.7	0.1	0.4
Muong	2.0	0.6	0.1	0.6
Khomer	1.5	0.9	0.2	0.5
Hmong	1.4	0.1	0.1	0.3
Others	5.7	1.4	2.9	2.9
Education
Illiterate	4.2	1.1	1.2	2.2
Less than primary school	14.2	6.9	10.7	13.6
Primary school	25.9	16.6	15.5	21.2
Secondary school	25.5	21.5	15.8	20.5
High school	18.2	35.9	22.7	15.7
Primary vocational training	2.4	3.7	3.7	3.8
Intermediate vocational training	4.9	6.1	7.4	8.9
Vocational junior college	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.7
Junior college	1.9	1.9	2.7	3.3
Graduate	2.5	5.8	18.5	9.8
Postgraduate	0.0	0.1	1.3	0.3

Note: All differences among migrant populations are statistically significant with p < 0.001.

Table 3. Main characteristics of interprovincial migrants aged 5 years and older, comprising 4.3% of the whole population (and 50.5% of the internal migration population), by migration flows and using Vietnam National Census data, 2009

Characteristics	Rural-to-rural	Rural-to-urban	Urban-to-urban	Urban-to-rural
Proportion of migrants (%)	35.4	44.5	7.3	12.8
Age (median)	24	23	24	26
Age groups (%)
Under 20 years	24.0	24.7	21.0	16.2
20–40 years	66.1	67.1	67.5	67.3
Over 40 years	9.9	8.1	11.5	16.5
Gender (%)
Male	46.1	46.6	48.1	51.5
Female	53.9	53.4	51.9	48.5
Ethnic group
Kinh	89.0	96.4	96.9	94.8
Tay	1.8	0.7	1.0	1.4
Thai	0.9	0.3	0.2	0.3
Muong	2.0	0.6	0.3	0.8
Khomer	1.7	1.0	0.3	0.6
Hmong	1.1	0.0	0.0	0.1
Others	3.4	1.1	1.3	1.9
Education
Illiterate	3.2	0.9	0.7	1.8
Less than primary school	12.4	6.4	6.2	11.8
Primary school	26.5	17.8	11.8	20.2
Secondary school	26.7	23.5	14.1	22.5
High school	21.6	35.8	36.4	18.5
Primary vocational training	2.5	3.8	3.2	3.7
Intermediate vocational training	4.0	4.9	7.2	8.9
Vocational junior college	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.8
Junior college	1.1	1.5	2.6	2.6
Graduate	1.7	4.9	16.6	9.0
Postgraduate	0.0	0.1	0.7	0.2

Note: All differences among migrant populations are statistically significant with p < 0.001.

Fig. 1.  Trends of interprovincial migration rates (migrants per 1,000 people) over time by gender and age groups.

All proportions presented in this graph were estimated using census data with an extremely large sample size; the standard deviation of the proportion is extremely small (such as 0.007%) and the 95% CI extremely narrow, and thus the 95% CI was hardly presented in the chart.

Fig. 2.  In-migration rates and number of industrial zones by province in Vietnam, 2009, excluding Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands. The map shows the number of industrial zones but does not show the extent of the industrial zones.

Note: Distribution of variables in this figure is skewed; thus, these variables are classified into categories by using the quintile.

Fig. 3.  Migration rates in Vietnam, 2009, excluding Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands. Part A shows the in-migration rates by province, and part B shows the out-migration rates by province.

Note: Distribution of variables in this figure is skewed; thus, these variables are classified into categories by using the quintile.

Fig. 4.  The relation between migration and monthly income per capita in the Vietnamese population, excluding Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands.

The ‘star’ symbols in the top northeast corner and the two ‘star’ symbols in the east middle show the Lai Chau, Kon Tum, and Dak Nong provinces, which are outliers with high in-migration rates and low monthly per capita income.

Note: Distribution of variables in this figure is skewed; thus, these variables are classified into categories by using the quintile.

Table 4. Crude odds ratios of in-migration and its correlates

	OR	SE	95%CI of OR		p
Monthly income per capita (>803,000 VND/month)	4.62	2.5	1.6	13.35	0.005
Unemployment rate (>2.1%)	0.94	0.47	0.35	2.52	0.898
Proportion of urban population (>19.1%)	3.47	1.83	1.23	9.78	0.019
School dropout rate (>15.4%)	0.56	0.29	0.21	1.52	0.258
Ratio of fifth to first quintile (>6.68%)	1.06	0.54	0.4	2.86	0.904