The figure was part of a report announced by the Vietnam Institute of Social Sciences and the World Bank in Vietnam at a seminar in Hanoi last weekend.

In the past 10 years, Vietnam recorded a fast poverty reduction rate, from 58.1 percent in 1993 to 19.5 percent in 2004.

The encouraging result was attributed to Vietnam’s doi moi (renewal) process, economic development, infrastructure investment and development models for poor people.

However, the development gap between poor people in urban and rural areas remains large, the report says. While the number of poor households in urban area is 3.6 percent, the figure in rural area is as high as 25 percent.

The rate of poverty reduction in ethnic minority groups is much slower than that in Kinh and Hoa (Chinese-Vietnamese) ethnic groups (60.7 percent compared to 13.5 percent in 2004). Poor households are mostly living in the northern central and Central Highlands regions.

This is the first time Vietnam has updated a report on poverty statistics with help from Vietnamese experts and policy-makers, and technical assistance from the World Bank’s experts.