Literacy in Vietnam—
an atlas
Tram Phan1, Ayse Bilgin2, Ann Eyland2, Pamela Shaw2
Asia-Pacific Research Institute Macquarie University
1
Researcher, Institute of Statistics, General Statistics Office, Hanoi, Vietnam
This paper was completed while Ms Phan was a visiting scholar at APRIM, Macquarie
University
2
Department of Statistics, Division of Economic and Financial Studies, Macquarie University
NSW 2109 Australia
Introduction
Since the unification of Vietnam in 1975, restoration and development of the education system has
been a national priority. The prologue of The Education Law (as passed at the National Assembly of
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Xth Legislature, 4th Session October 1998) makes the point clearly.
It states that
Education and training is a first national priority. It is the cause of the State and of
all the people.
Much has been achieved in transforming Vietnamese education particularly since the introduction of
the reform process ‘Doi Moi’ in 1986. For example, in the Draft Education Strategy to Year 2010
prepared by the Ministry of Education Drafting Group on Vietnamese education, it is stated that
1
A unified national education system has been built in the whole country.
2
Nearly 94% of the population aged 15 years or over is literate.
3
All of the provinces and cities have achieved the national standard for
illiteracy eradication and primary education universalisation.1
In this paper, we present results about literacy derived from the 1999 Census of Population and
Housing. Much is already known about the distribution of literacy in Vietnam—men are more likely
to be literate than women; urban populations have higher literacy levels than rural populations; ethnic
minorities, taught in a language other than their own, are less likely to be literate than Kinh. Given the
history of literacy campaigns since 1945, the young have higher literacy levels than the old and there
is considerable variation among provinces.
Hence, the purpose of the research reported here was to estimate literacy rates for groups within each
province defined by gender, area of residence, ethnicity and age and thence identify groups
significantly disadvantaged in terms of literacy. The results are illustrated in a series of maps of
Vietnam.
The outline of the paper is as follows
1 Literacy campaigns in Vietnam: a brief history
2 The data: source, analysis, definitions
3 The results
4 Conclusion
5 The Atlas
6 Appendices
1
as shown in the Draft Vietnamese Education Development Strategy to Year 2010 Ministry of Education and Training Drafting Group on
Vietnamese Education Development Strategy 22 August2000 Hanoi
1
Literacy campaigns in Vietnam: a brief history
A long standing desire of President Ho Chi Minh and his followers was that there be ‘freedom of
learning for the native people’2. Hence, after coming to power in 1945, one of the first actions taken
by his Government was the establishment of the first literacy campaign. So began the Vietnamese
literacy campaigns which have changed an almost illiterate population with only 10% literate to a
population with over 90% literate. The first campaign lasted from 1945 to 1954. It was followed by a
second campaign from 1956 to 1958, and a third campaign after unification in 1976. Over time, the
campaigns became more sophisticated and extensive. New methods for eradicating illiteracy were
introduced after the realization that some who had previously completed literacy training had
regressed and that many children either never attended school or dropped out at an early age. From
1978 to 1990, policy concentrated on complementary education and on people in the highlands, in
undeveloped areas and on children’s education. A detailed account is given in Education for All in
Vietnam (1990—2000) edited by Pham Minh Hac for the National Committee Literacy Hanoi.
Following the initiation of ‘Doi Moi’ in 1986, the decade of the 1990s saw the development of
strategies directed at the education system as a whole. The universalisation of primary education from
grades 1 to 5 for children aged from 6 to 14 years became law at the 9th session of the 8th term of the
National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam in August 1991. To achieve this, the school
system was expanded and included special efforts to enable children in remote areas. Expenditure on
primary education was increased substantially. Post-literacy programs were introduced so that
regression from literacy would be minimised. This was in response to the Eradication of Illiteracy
Order passed in January 1990, the purpose of which was to achieve universal primary education and
literacy by 2000. This order set out the target and measures for implementation. In particular, for
achieving the objective of literacy in 2000, efforts in the first five years were concentrated on the
under 35 year old population. The National Literacy Committee was established to co-ordinate and
manage the program throughout the country.
The account in Education for All in Vietnam (1990—2000) describes a rich and diverse program of
activities. Efforts have been made to solve the problems of particular ethnic communities and
provinces, of people living in isolated regions of the country, and of those who in the past lacked
opportunity. The report documents that for adults aged between 15 and 35 in Vietnam, the literacy
rate increased from 86.1% in 1990 to 95.6% in 19983.—the target was 94%. In some regions, the
increase was much greater—in the North East from 68% to 93%, in the North West from 52% to 84%
and in the Central Highlands, from 53% to 88%. These figures were derived from reports of the
National Committee for Literacy, the Continuing Education Department and the Ministry of
Education and Training. The Population and Housing Census of 1999 provides a different
independent measure of literacy which may be used as a check on the administrative records and other
desired outcomes of the reform process. We report only the data on literacy.
2
Education for All in Vietnam (1990—2000) edited by Pham Minh Hac for the National Committee Literacy Hanoi, p51
3
ibid p168
2
The data: source, analysis, definitions
Data source
The data used in the study was collected at the 1999 Population and Housing census. This is the third
census conducted since the unification of Vietnam in 1975 and the second ‘which could really be
thought of as a modern census with internationally recognized census concepts, design features and
processing.’ It was conducted on 1 April 1999 and has three main components—a core census that
includes all persons resident in Vietnam on 1 April; a more detailed survey of a sample of
approximately three percent of the population; and a housing census that includes all defined census
dwellings. The core population census covered education levels, technical and professional
qualifications, and literacy, as well as basic demographic information. The sample survey was
designed to collect information about birth and death rates, sensitive information requiring additional
training of the interviewers involved. The form used for the sample survey incorporated all the
questions in the shorter census form. The census and the sample survey were conducted concurrently.
The short form was completed in 97% of households and the long form in 3%. The forms were
distributed and completed by specially trained interviewers who interviewed the head of each
household in their area of responsibility or, if that person was not present, a responsible adult from the
household.
Analysis
The results presented in this paper include estimates (derived from the 3% sample by weighting) for
each province and for subgroups within each province. Statistical assessment of comparisons between
subgroups in the population (for example, between men and women) has been made using the sample
data. The strength of differences is illustrated graphically using the adjusted odds ratio. More detailed
results were obtained using logistic regression. These two methods are equivalent when the logistic
model is the model using only the main effects for each factor. More complex logistic models were
used to identify groups like non Kinh rural women. Details are provided in Appendix 1.
The meaning of Literacy
How to define literacy is a contentious issue. A common definition is that a person is literate if he/she
knows
how to read and write with understanding simple sentences in his/her national or
ethnic language or a foreign language.
In the Vietnam Population and Housing Census a surrogate measure of literacy was as follows:
persons were literate if they had completed grade 5 or higher or if the head of their
household (or the representative of the household who was interviewed by the census
collector) believed that they were currently able to read and write.
This definition suffers from subjectivity and differs from definitions used in other studies such as
those conducted using the administrative records of the Ministry of Education and Training.
The reference population
The results presented in this paper relate to the adult population of Vietnam, that is, to those 15 years
of age or older.
3
The results
The population
The estimated adult (that is, those 15 years or older) literacy rate in Vietnam is 90.3%.
Factors affecting literacy rate
The estimates for the subgroups discussed previously are given in Table 1. We see that literacy rate
differs between men and women, between those living in urban areas and those in rural areas,
between Kinh and non Kinh and between those under 35 years and those 35 years or older. Men are
more likely to be literate than women, people in urban areas are more literate than people in rural
areas, Kinh more than those of different ethnic origin, and people under 35 years more than those 35
years or older.
Table 1
Literacy rate in Vietnam by gender, area of
residence, ethnicity and age group
Factor
Subgroup
Gender
Male
94.0%
Female
86.9%
Urban
94.8%
Rural
88.7%
Kinh
92.8%
Non Kinh
72.2%
Under 35 years
94.1%
35 years and over
85.8%
Area
Ethnicity
Age
All
Literacy rate
90.3%
Differences between provinces
Literacy rates also vary between provinces. This is illustrated in Map Set 1.A, which displays the
literacy rate for each province colour coded. Each colour represents a range for literacy rate: the
darker the colour, the lower the literacy rate.
More details about differences between provinces are shown in Table 2. Here, provinces are grouped
into the 8 geographic regions of Vietnam. For each region, we list the provinces with literacy rates
above the national goal of 94% together with the maximum and minimum value for provinces in the
region.
The table shows immediately that in 3 regions— the North West, the Central Highlands, and the
Mekong River Delta — the national goal has not been reached in any of their provinces. In three other
regions— North Central, Central Coast, South East — the national goal has only been achieved in one
province in each region. The northern regions— Red River Delta and North East — have achieved
relatively higher literacy rates although in each region, there are provinces with literacy rates below
94%.
Table 2
Literacy rate by provinces grouped in regions
Region
Red River Delta
literacy rate = 94.6%
# provinces = 9
North East
literacy rate = 89.3%
# provinces = 13
North West
literacy rate = 73.3%
# provinces = 3
North Central
literacy rate = 91.3%
# provinces = 6
Central Coast
literacy rate = 90.6%
# provinces = 6
Central Highland
literacy rate = 83.0%
# provinces = 3
South East
literacy rate = 92.1%
# provinces = 9
Mekong River Delta
Literacy rate = 88.1%
# provinces = 12
Provinces with
literacy rate ≥ 94%
Ha Noi
96.9%
Hai Phong
95.4%
Hai Duong
94.8%
Thai Binh
94.6%
Nam Dinh
94.3%
Thai Nguyen
95.4%
Phu Tho
95.0%
Vinh Phuc
94.0%
Bac Ninh
94.0%
Ha Tinh
Da Nang
TP Ho Chi Minh
94.1%
94.7%
94.0%
Literacy rate range for region
Min: Ha Tay
Max: Ha Noi
92.2%
96.9%
Min: Ha Giang
Max: Thai Nguyen
68.1%
95.4%
Min: Lai Chau
Max: Hoa Binh
51.3%
92.0%
Min: Thua
Thien_hue
Max: Ha Tinh
Min: Quang Ngai
Max: Da Nang
85.6%
Min: Gia Lai
Max: Dac Lac
69.3%
92.2%
Min: Ninh Thuan
Max: TP Ho Chi
Minh
Min: Tra Vinh
Max: Ca Mau
81.2%
94.1%
86.2%
94.7%
94.0%
82.5%
92.9%
The differences between provinces are explored further by assessing whether the factor differences
shown in Table 1 occur in each province. These are illustrated in the Map Sets 2 to 5, one for each
factor. The data is presented in Appendix 2 Tables 2 to 5.
In each map set, there are 3 maps: the first 2 show literacy rate for each of the 2 subgroups of each
factor. So in the case of gender, the first map shows literacy rate for men by province, and the next,
literacy rate for women by province. The third map shows adjusted odds ratios by province. The odds
ratio is a statistic used to assess whether there is a difference between the factor levels for each
province. Details are given in Appendix 1.
The corresponding data tables in Appendix 2 show for each province the literacy rate for each factor
level, the odds ratio adjusted for the other factors together with its 95% confidence interval. Since
statistical significance is a function of sample size, statistical significance of the odds ratio may occur
even when the literacy rates are very close simply because of the large numbers in each province. It
may also occur when the literacy rate is close to 100% as happens in Ha Noi. Such occurrences are
not of educational significance.
Moreover, the following results need to be interpreted against the background of the distribution of
the population for each factor in each province. This information is provided in Appendix 2 Table 1.
Two factors vary across the country more than the others—area of residence and ethnicity. These are
displayed in the maps 1.B and 1.C. In some provinces, the ethnicity rate was very low. Consequently,
the number of non Kinh selected in the 3% sample was very small resulting in estimates of the
literacy rate with large standard errors. This occurred in Hai Phong (with 41 in the 3% sample), Hai
Duong (68), Hung Yen (3), Ha Nam (15), Nam Dinh (33), Thai Binh (9), Ha Tinh (14), Da Nang (86),
and Binh Dinh (89).
Gender
Map Set 2 and Appendix 2 Table 2 show for each province the literacy rate for men, literacy rate for
women and the odds ratio of literacy versus gender adjusted for the factors area of residence, age and
ethnicity. A high odds ratio means that men are more likely to be literate than women.
For men, the minimum rate is 63.1%, in Lai Chau province, and this is the only province with male
rate less than 70%. For women, the minimum is 39.8%, in Lai Chau province, and there are 6
provinces with female rates below 70%. These provinces are in the darkest colour.
For men, the maximum rate is 99.1% (Ha Noi), and there are 33 provinces with male rates greater
than 94%. For women, the maximum rate is 94.9% (Ha Noi), and there is only 1 province with female
rate greater than 94% (Ha Noi). These provinces are in the lightest colour.
The areas in which both men and women have particularly low literacy rates are the North West and
the Central Highlands.
The maps illustrate vividly that there are differences in literacy rate between men and women.
Assessment using adjusted odds-ratios shows that the differences are statistically significant in all
provinces. This is shown in the odds-ratio map. The differences are not of educational significance
when both literacy rates are in the high nineties. If this occurs, the map for men and the map for
women are in the lightest colour. The odds ratio map indicates that differences between men and
women are smallest in the far south.
Area of residence
Map Set 3 and Appendix 2 Table 3 show for each province literacy rates for urban areas, for rural
areas and the odds ratio of literacy versus area of residence adjusted for the factors gender, age and
ethnicity. A high odds ratio for a province means that the urban population has a higher literacy rate
than the rural population.
In urban areas, literacy rates range from 89.3% to 98.4%, and this is reflected in the light colours of
the urban map. In rural areas, literacy rates range from 44% to 94.7%. The lowest rates occur in the
North West and the Central Highlands. In general the literacy rate in urban areas is higher than the
rate in the corresponding rural area. Assessment using odds ratio of literacy versus area of residence
adjusted for the factors gender, age, and ethnicity shows that the differences in 36 provinces are less
than 2 i.e. statistically significant. The exceptions are concentrated in the Red River Delta and the
Mekong River Delta with 3 in the North East and some in central provinces.
Ethnicity
Map Set 4 and Appendix 2 Table 4 show for each province the literacy rate for the Kinh population,
the literacy rate for the non Kinh population and the odds ratio of literacy versus ethnicity adjusted for
the factors gender, area of residence and age. A high odds ratio means that Kinh are more likely to be
literate than non Kinh. In provinces where the numbers of non Kinh were small, calculations of rates
for non Kinh and odds-ratios were not made since the figures would be misleading.
Among the Kinh, literacy rates are high ranging from 85.7% to 97.4%, and this is reflected in the light
colours of the Kinh map. There are differences in the literacy rate between Kinh people and non Kinh.
Among the non Kinh, literacy levels are low ranging from 36.1% to 99.4%, and this is reflected in the
dark colours of the non Kinh map. The high rates occur in the Red River delta area where there are
very small non Kinh populations (percentage of non Kinh in most of these provinces is less than 1%).
The lowest rates occur in the North West, the Central Highlands and in the South East.
Age
Map Set 5 and Appendix 2 Table 5 show for each province the literacy rate for the population aged
from 15 years to 34 years, the literacy rate for the population 35 years and older and the odds ratios of
literacy versus age adjusted for gender, area of residence and ethnicity. A high odds ratio means that
adults under 35 years are more likely to be literate than older people.
Literacy rates for the younger subgroup range from 52.8% to 99.5%. In 38 provinces, the young
literacy rate is at least 94%. However, in the North (East and West) and in part of the Central
Highlands, the literacy rate is low—in 5 of the 19 provinces in these regions, it is less than 80%.
Literacy rates for the older subgroup range from 49.1% to 94.5%. In 1 province, it is greater than
94%. In 12 provinces, it is less than 80%.
The literacy rate for the younger age group is higher than that of the older age group in every
province. The differences are statistically significant for all provinces including Lai Chau where the
literacy rate for the younger age group is 53% and for the older age group is only marginally lower at
49%. So, some of the differences are not of great educational importance.
Differences among people under 35 years
Since during the nineteen nineties, the literacy campaign was directed at young people under 35 years
of age, we present in more detail, the results for the under 35 group. The results are given in
Appendix 2 Table 6, and are illustrated in Map Sets 6 to 8. Already, we have noted that in each
province the literacy rate for young people is significantly higher than the literacy rate for older
people. This affirms the beneficial effects of the latest campaign. However, more detailed analysis
shows that there are failures even at the province level.
The patterns were similar to those for the whole population. They are summarised in Table 3 below.
Table 3
Young adult literacy rate by gender, area of residence and ethnicity
Factor
Gender
Area
Ethnicity
minimum
Male
63.8%
99.3%
Female
41.8%
99.6%
Urban
91.1%
99.7%
Rural
46.5%
99.3%
87.4%
99.5%
41.3%
100.0%
52.8%
99.5%
Kinh
Non Kinh
All
1
maximum
1
Young adult literacy rate
< 85%
85 to 92%
≥ 92%
6
13
42
9
11
41
2
59
11
41
5
56
34
3
24
8
11
42
9
In 6 provinces, sample size for non Kinh was too small for the estimate of literacy rate to be
reliable. These include 4 with 100% literacy−Hung Yen (2), Ha Nam (6), Thai Binh (6) and
Ha Tinh (4). The other 2 were Nam Dinh with literacy rate 85.4 and sample size 17, and Hai
Phong with literacy rate 94.2 and sample size 14. Three provinces with reasonably sized
samples had 100% literacy−Ha Noi (71), Hai Duong (94) and Bac Ninh (124).
Although women have a smaller minimum than men, in the younger group there is little difference
between women and men across the provinces. This is shown clearly in the odds-ratio map, Map 6.C,
which should be compared with the similar map for the population as a whole, Map 2.C.
Rural young have significantly lower literacy rates than urban young. Comparison of Maps 3.C and
7.C suggests that the Education for All campaign of the last decade was more effective in urban areas
than in rural areas, since urban/rural differences have been enhanced. However, it is acknowledged
that the outcomes could be related to other features of urban living.
The difference between Kinh young and non Kinh young is stark as reflected in Maps 8.A and 8.B.
Comparison with Map Set 4 suggests that the recent literacy campaign has not made great inroads into
resolving the literacy problems of non Kinh. Perhaps it is too early to draw this conclusion since
particular efforts to improve literacy of non Kinh occurred in the second half of the nineties. Our data
is from the 1999 census.
We explored the differences further using logistic regression modeling. Details of the procedure are
given in Appendix 1. The purpose was to identify which subgroups within provinces are particularly
disadvantaged in terms of literacy, that is, have low literacy rates in relation to the rest of the
province. The results are given in Table 4.
We divided the provinces into three groups. The first group consists of provinces with young literacy
rate less than 85%, a value significantly less than 94% in educational terms. (For statistical
significance at the 0.1% level, the cut-off point for young literacy rate is 93.3% since the minimum
size of the 3% youth sample across provinces is 11269.) The second group consists of provinces with
young literacy rate between 85% and 92%. The third group consists of provinces with young literacy
rate greater than 92%. Under each group are listed by region the provinces with subgroups
significantly disadvantaged within their province in terms of literacy. The subgroups are defined by
the demographic factors gender, area of residence and ethnicity. This table then lists provinces which
still have work to do in order to raise the level of literacy. To make significant inroads, their programs
need to target the disadvantaged groups which have been identified.
The method of describing the groups is as follows:
•
The subgroups have been defined in terms of the 3 factors: gender, area of residence,
ethnicity
•
a single factor level means that all subgroups within the factor level have literacy rates
significantly less than 94% (e.g. ‘Minority’ means that all 4 minority subgroups—urban
non Kinh men, rural non Kinh men, urban non Kinh women, rural non Kinh women—have
literacy rates much lower than 94%.)
•
two factor levels means that the two groups which belong to both factor levels have literacy
rates significantly lower than 94% (e.g. Rural Minority means that the literacy rates of non
Kinh men and non Kinh women in rural areas are much lower than 94%.)
•
a factor level within a factor level, means that within the factor level, the identified group
has lower literacy rate than the other level (e.g. Women within Rural Minority means that
non Kinh women in rural areas have a lower literacy rate than non Kinh men in rural areas.)
As an example, for Ha Giang in the North East region, the comment is ‘Rural Minority, Women
within Rural Minority’. The literacy rates for Urban Kinh, Rural Kinh, Urban Minority, Rural
Minority Men and Rural Minority Women are approximately 99%, 99%, 90%, 80% and 60%. To
improve literacy in the province of Ha Giang, strategies should be developed for non Kinh people in
rural areas. At the same time, the strategies should include a special program for non Kinh women in
rural areas.
In general, the literacy rate for Kinh in each province with the exception of the Mekong River Delta is
greater than 94%, Differences between men and women Kinh and between urban and rural Kinh are
small and not of significance to the educational policy maker. In provinces in which sample sizes are
sufficiently large for the estimates of literacy to be reliable, it is clear that the literacy rate for non
Kinh in each province is much lower than the literacy rate for Kinh. In the tables below, provinces in
which the percentage of ethnic minorities is less than 5 have been asterisked. In each of these
provinces, sample sizes were sufficiently large for the estimates of literacy to be reliable.
One region, the Red River Delta, does not appear in any of the following tables. This means that all
provinces in this region have achieved high literacy rates across all population subgroups (if they can
be estimated). The 3 provinces of one region, the Central Highlands, are each listed in one of the
tables. This means that each province in the Central Highlands has identifiable subgroups which have
low literacy levels.
Table 4
Young adult population: groups within provinces with low literacy rates
Region
Province
Group 1
Provinces with young literacy rate < 85%
North East
Ha Giang
Cao Bang
Lao Cai
74.9
82.0
70.7
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Minority, Rural within Minority, Women within Minority
North
West
Lai Chau
Son La
52.8
72.7
Minority, Rural within Minority, Women within Minority
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Central
Highlands
Kon Tum
Gia Lai
80.3
76.8
Minority, Rural within Minority, Women within Minority
Minority, Rural within Minority, Women within Minority
South East
Ninh Thuan
84.7
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Group2
Provinces with young literacy rate between 85% and 92%
North East
Bac Kan
Tuyen Quang
89.7
90.4
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Yen Bai
86.9
Minority, Rural within Minority, Women within Minority
South East
Binh Phuoc
91.7
Minority, Rural within Minority, Women within Minority
Mekong
River
Delta
Dong Thap
An Giang
Kien Giang
Can Tho
Tra Vinh
Soc Trang
Bac Lieu
89.3
87.4
91.2
91.1
88.5
91.1
89.5
Rural Kinh*
Rural, Men within Rural*
Minority, Rural within Minority
Rural Minority, Women within Minority*
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Rural Minority
Minority, Rural within Minority
Group 3
Provinces with literacy rate > 92%
North East
Quang Ninh
95.6
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
North
Central
Nghe An
Quang Tri
Thuan Thien_Hue
96.6
94.4
94.4
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority*
Central
Coast
Quang Nam
Quang Ngai
Phu Yen
Khanh Hoa
97.1
93.2
95.0
94.6
Minority, Urban within Minority, Women within Minority
Minority, Rural within Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Rural Minority, Women within Minority*
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority*
Central
Highlands
Dac Lac
95.5
Minority, Rural within Minority, Women within Rural Minority
South East
Lam Dong
Dong Nai
Ba Ria Vung Tau
94.5
95.4
95.6
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority
Rural Minority
Rural Minority, Women within Rural Minority*
Mekong . .
Vinh Long
94.3
Rural Minority, Men within Rural Minority*
*
Literacy
groups with low literacy rates
minority population is less than 5% of the whole population
4
Conclusion
The 1999 Housing and Population Census of Vietnam is an important resource for understanding the
outcomes of the Education for All program of the 1990s. In this report, we have discussed the results
for adult literacy. We have shown the distribution of literacy both geographically and socially across
Vietnam using maps to illustrate the data. Because unit record data was available, it was possible to
conduct a reasonably probing analysis and to pinpoint particular subgroups by province that are
significantly disadvantaged in terms of literacy.
The reasons for their disadvantage lie to some extent in the history of literacy campaigns in Vietnam.
These began in the large population centres of the North before unification and were extended to the
South afterwards. However, there are other more current reasons for their disadvantage. The Census
provides other measures about educational attainment which underlie literacy, the broadest measure of
educational outcome. Analyses similar to those used in this report may well further our understanding
of educational need and assist in locating particularly needy subgroups within provinces.
The results are different from those reported elsewhere using records from the Ministry of Education
and Training. The quality controls used in conducting the Census mean that the data is undoubtedly
reliable. However, the measure of literacy is a mix of objective and subjective assessment. Perhaps in
the next Census, some alternative or additional questions for those selected in the 3% sample could be
tested in some provinces in order to obtain a more robust measure of literacy.
Acknowledgments
The work reported in this paper was carried out while Tram Phan was a visiting scholar at the Asia
Pacific Research Institute Macquarie University. Funding for her visit was provided by the
Vietnamese Government and Macquarie University.
The authors acknowledge the assistance of Emeritus Professor Don McNeil, Department of Statistics,
Macquarie University, who made available the facilities of the Macquarie Statistical Laboratory and
provided valuable advice.
We were fortunate to find in Sydney two experts on Vietnamese education: Professor Neil Baumgart,
an educational consultant currently working for the World Bank and the British Department for
International Development on major projects in Vietnam; and Professor Stephanie Fahey, Director,
Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific, University of Sydney.
5
The Atlas
Key
Map of Vietnam with each province identified by name and region
Set 1
Literacy rates by province in Vietnam for the population aged 15 years or older
Percentage of the population aged 15 years or older living in rural areas in each
province
Percentage of the population aged 15 years or older from ethnic minorities in each
province
Set 2
Literacy rates for men by province
Literacy rates for women by province
Adjusted odds ratios for literacy versus gender by province
Set 3
Literacy rates for urban areas by province
Literacy rates for rural areas by province
Adjusted odds ratios for literacy versus area of residence by province
Set 4
Literacy rates for Kinh by province
Literacy rates for non Kinh i.e. minorities by province
Adjusted odds ratios for literacy versus ethnicity by province
Set 5
Literacy rates for people between 15 and 34 years of age by province
Literacy rates for people aged 35 years or over by province
Adjusted odds ratios for literacy versus age group by province
Set 6
Literacy rates for young men by province
Literacy rates for young women by province
Adjusted odds ratios for literacy of young versus gender by province
Set 7
Literacy rates for young in urban areas by province
Literacy rates for young in rural areas by province
Adjusted odds ratios for literacy of young versus area of residence by province
Set 8
Literacy rates for young Kinh by province
Literacy rates for young non Kinh i.e. minorities by province
Adjusted odds ratios for literacy of young versus ethnicity by province