THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION NGUYEN THANH MAI STUDY ON THE LIVING STANDARDS OF THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE IN TERMS OF SOCIO ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY Speciality Geography Code 9310501 DISSERTATIO[.]
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION NGUYEN THANH MAI STUDY ON THE LIVING STANDARDS OF THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE IN TERMS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY Speciality: Geography Code: 9310501 DISSERTATION SUMMARY THAI NGUYEN – 2023 The project was completed at: University of Education - Thai Nguyen University Supervisors: Assoc Prof Dr NGUYEN XUAN TRUONG Assoc Prof Dr NGUYEN MINH TUE Reviewer 1: ……………………………………………… Reviewer 2: ……………………………………………… Reviewer 3: ……………………………………………… The dissertation will be defended in the committee: University of Education - Thai Nguyen University At………… hour….day……month…… year 2023 The dissertation can b e found at: - National Library of Vietnam - Digital Center - Thai Nguyen University - Library of University of Education LIST OF RESEARCH RELATED TO THE DISSERTATION Nguyen Thanh Mai (2016), Research on Poverty in Thai Nguyen Province, Proceedings of the 9th National Geographic Science Conference 2016, pp.519-527, Natural Science and Technology Publishing House Vu Van Anh, Nguyen Thanh Mai, (2016), The income distribution of people in the Northeast border provinces, Proceedings of the 9th National Geographic Science Conference, Volume 2, pp 206-210, Publishing House of Natural Science and Technology Nguyen Thanh Mai (2018), Education and training development - sustainable poverty reduction solutions in Thai Nguyen province, Proceedings of the 10th National Geographic Science Conference, volume 2, p 1603 - 1608 Nguyen Thanh Mai, Nguyen Phuong Lien, Pham Huong Giang (2019), Impact of the 4.0 revolution on Vietnamese living standards, Geograhical Sciences in the context of the fourth industrial revolution: Opportunities and Challenges, Ho Chi Minh City National University Press (VNU - HCM Press), pp.229-236 Nguyen Thanh Mai, Than Thi Huyen (2020), Developing human resources contributing to improving living standards for ethnic minorities in Vietnam, Journal of Science and Technology, Thai Nguyen University, volume 225 (No 7), p 59-65 Nguyen Thanh Mai, Nguyen Xuan Truong (2021), Research on living standards in Thai Nguyen province, period 2010 - 2018, 10 11 approaching from socio-economic geographical perspective, Journal of Science and Technology of Thai University Nguyen, vol 226 (No 8), p 244-251 Nguyen Thanh Mai (2021), Research on living standard of northern midlands and region in Vietnam, Proceedings of the 12th National Geographic Science Conference, volume 1, p 729-734, Youth Publishing House Nguyen Thanh Mai, Nguyen Xuan Truong (2021), Solution to improve the living standard in Thai Nguyen province: from the perspective of socio-economic geography, TNU Journal of Science and Technology 227 (4), pp 3-11 Nguyen Thanh Mai (2022), Research on the current status of living standards of Thai Nguyen's population, period 2010 2020, Science Journal of Hanoi National University of Education, vol 67, No 2, pp.119-130 Nguyen Thanh Mai, Nguyen Phuong Lien, Pham Huong Giang, Vu Van Anh, Than Thi Huyen (2022), Research on factors affecting people's living standards in Thai Nguyen province in terms of socio-economic geography Association, Proceedings of the 13th National Geographic Science Conference, Volume 2, pp 589 - 597, Youth Publishing House Nguyen Thanh Mai, Analysis of the current situation of residential income in Thai Nguyen province in the period 2010 - 2020 (2022), Proceedings of the 13th National Geographic Science Conference, Volume 2, pp.527-532, Youth Publishing House INTRODUCTION Urgency of the topic The living standards is an issue that many scientists are interested in researching The standard of living is concerned with the development and satisfaction of the needs of society and the needs of individuals In fact, when applying to the living standards research in a defined area such as the provincial level, there is no consensus on the evaluation criteria After more than 30 years of implementing the "Doi Moi" policy, Vietnam has made remarkable progress in socioeconomic development Thai Nguyen province belongs to the Northern Midlands and Mountains, and is also a province located in the Capital region (since 2016), with a natural area of 3521.9 km2, population in 2020 is 1,307.9 thousand people; Gross domestic product (GRDP) in 2020 will reach VND 116,008.2 billion; GRDP per capita at current prices is equivalent to VND 88.7 million in 2020, ranking 1/14th in the Northern Midlands and Mountains, 12/63 provinces and cities in Vietnam With its geographical position as a gateway for socioeconomic exchanges, Thai Nguyen has attracted domestic and foreign investors, especially the Samsung industrial complex that came into operation in 2013 It is this that makes the Samsung industrial complex come into operation Thai Nguyen province's socio-economic development has developed rapidly, people's lives have been significantly improved; Education, health and culture have made great progress However, the living standards has a divergence between population groups in terms of income, conditions for accessing health care, education, living standards of the population, ethnic minorities in many highland communes are still low and encountered many difficulties Therefore, studying the living standards, influencing factors and causes of the living standards differentiation, finding solutions to improve the living standards in Thai Nguyen province in terms of socio-economic geography is urgent Stemming from the above strategy and goals, the author decided to choose the doctoral dissertation topic "Study on the living standards of Thai Nguyen province in terms of socioeconomic geography" 2.1 The overview of living standards and factors affecting living standards 2.1.1 Overseas research papers - Concept of standard of living: K Marx: “The living standards is not only the satisfaction of the needs of material life but also certain needs generated by the very conditions in which people are living and growing up" - Factors affecting people's living standards: Typically, there are research of author Gary S Becker (1992), Minot Nicholas, Baulch Bob and Epprecht Michael (2004), Paul Glewwe (1998), Krinerger and Linhand (1999) 2.1.2 Domestic research papers - Concept of standard of living: Author Le Quoc Hoi with the article the relationship between economic growth and income inequality: theory and practice in Vietnam, author Le Thong (editor) et al (2011) with the document Vietnam's socio-economic geography, the article "Some issues on economic growth and people's living standards of Vietnam" by Nguyen Trong Xuan 2.2 Criteria and methods of assessing living standards 2.2.1 Overseas research papers Some typical research: “More than just economic growth” (2005) by Tatyana P Soubbotina, Danube (2015) titled “Evaluating Living Standard Indicators”, Overview of Human Development Report 2015 by Helen Clark 2.2.2 Domestic research papers Author Van Thi Loan (1998) with the book "Some opinions on the application of sampling method in the population living standard survey", UNDP (2008) with "Analysis report on baseline survey program 135-II, Hanoi", Nguyen Dang Thanh (2010) with the study "Characteristics of human resources of ethnic minorities in Vietnam, evidence collected from the 2009 population census in 11 provinces" 2.3 Solutions to improve living standards 2.3.1 Overseas research papers Typical research of the author Richard P F Holt and Daphne.G, "Improving Our Standard of Living: The Science, Politics, and Economics of Global Betterment" by Wesley Krug (2017) and Roganovic Milijana, Stankov Bijana (2018) 2.3.2 Domestic research papers Author Pham Duc Kien (2011) with the article "Economic growth associated with poverty reduction in Vietnam (1991-2010") The article "Improving people's living standards in the process of industrialization and modernization in Vietnam: Achievements and challenges" by Nguyen Hong Son, Tran Quang Tuyen (2014), Doctoral disertation of Tran Thi Thanh Ha (2019) "Improving the living standards of people in Son La province towards sustainability" 2.4 Research papers on living standards in Thai Nguyen province In Thai Nguyen province, several authors have had research works related to living standards: Doctoral disertation Research on Human Development in Thai Nguyen Province 1999-2009 by Vu Van Anh, Doctoral Disertation of Industrial Territorial Organization of Thai Nguyen Province by Nghiem Van Long (2021) The study of living standards in Thai Nguyen province is new The author inherits the research on theory and practice of living standards, analyzes the current situation of living standards and develops solutions to improve living standards in Thai Nguyen province Objectives and research tasks of the thesis 3.1 Target Based on an overview of theoretical and practical issues about standard of living, the dissertation focuses on assessing the factors affecting living standards and analyzing the current situation of living standards in Thai Nguyen province in the period 2010 - 2020 From there, propose solutions improving living standards in terms of socioeconomic geography has a scientific basis and is effective in the future 3.2 Tasks - Selectively summarizing theoretical and practical bases of living standards from socio-economic geographical perspective to apply to provincial research areas - Evaluation of factors affecting living standards in Thai Nguyen province - Analyze the current situation of living standards in Thai Nguyen province in terms of socio-economic geography - Proposing solutions to improve living standards in Thai Nguyen province Research scope 4.1 About research content The living standards is approached from socio-economic geographical perspective In addition to analyzing and evaluating the factors affecting standard of living, the division of living standards by territory is a natural factor and socio-economic factor, the thesis focuses on studying the current situation of living standards through groups of indicators: economic indicators target group, educational target group, health target group, supplementary target group - The group of economic indicators includes: GRDP/person (for the whole province), per capita income and poverty rate - Group of educational indicators: General attendance rate, accessibility to educational institutions - Group of health and health care indicators: Number of doctors per ten thousand people, number of hospital beds per ten thousand people, accessibility to medical facilities - Group of supplementary indicators: Percentage of households using electricity from the national grid, percentage of households with permanent houses 4.2 About the research space - The dissertation researches and evaluates living conditions in the entire territory of Thai Nguyen province, with a deep dive into district level administrative units including Thai Nguyen city, Song Cong city, Pho Yen city (Pho Yen district was recognized as a town in 2015, Pho Yen town is recognized as a city in 2022) and six districts: Dong Hy, Dai Tu, Phu Luong, Phu Binh, Dinh Hoa, Vo Nhai; Pay attention to comparison with some provinces in the region and the whole Northern Midland and Northern Midland region - The dissertation research investigates households in Thai Nguyen City, Song Cong City, Pho Yen Town, Phu Binh District, Vo Nhai District, Dinh Hoa District and Dai Tu District, to supplement the secondary data source and increase the reliability and science for the analysis and comments in the disertation 4.3 About research time The data used in the thesis is concentrated in the period 2010 2020 and forecast to 2030 And to be consistent with Vietnam's living standards survey, which investigates every years in even years, the research timelines should be followed Research in the thesis also follows even years, not according to the 5-year plan Opinions and research methods 5.1 Opinions The dissertation approaches based on system perspective, general view - territory, economic perspective, historical perspective perspective, sustainable development perspective 5.2 Research Methods The author has applied the following methods: method of collecting and processing documents, method of analysis, comparison, synthesis, method of sociological investigation, method of map and geographic information system (GIS), expert methods and forecasting methods Scientific and practical significance of the disertation 6.1 Scientific significance - Inheriting, supplementing, updating and clarifying theoretical issues about living conditions from socio-economic geographical perspective in Vietnam conditions to apply to provincial research - Select appropriate living standards evaluation criteria for the province, especially the mountainous province and the current period 6.2 Practical significance - Clarifying advantages and disadvantages of factors affecting living standards in Thai Nguyen province - Identify and analyze the current situation of standard of living and the division of living standards by territory in Thai Nguyen province according to the selected criteria through the study of theoretical and practical documents and sociological investigation - Propose scientific solutions to improve living standards in Thai Nguyen province in the future Structure of the thesis In addition to the introduction, conclusion, references and appendices, the dissertation is structured into chapters: Chapter Theoretical and practical basis of living standards Chapter Factors affecting living standards in Thai Nguyen province Chapter Actual situation of living standards of Thai Nguyen province And Chapter Solutions to improve living standards in Thai Nguyen province Chapter THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BASIS OF LIVING STANDARDS 1.1 Theoretical basis 1.1.1 Concept - Population: A population is a collection of people living on a territory characterized by social relations as well as economic reciprocal relationships - Ethnic minorities is defined as "Ethnic minorities are those with a population smaller than the majority in the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" - Living standards: The total value of goods and services capable of satisfying the material needs and cultural needs of people at a time of socio-economic development of the country 1.1.2 Factors affecting living standards - Geographical location, territorial scope - Group of natural factors (natural conditions, natural resources): Topography and land, water sources and organisms, minerals - Group of socio-economic factors: Population, labor resources and ethnicity, level of economic development, urbanization and industrialization, infrastructure and material and technical facilities, investment capital, physical regulations, development policies, markets, integration and linkage trends, science and technology 1.1.3 Indicators to assess the living standards applied to research in Thai Nguyen province The dissertation evaluates based on groups of indicators: Group of economic indicators: GRDP/person, Income per capita, Rate of poor households; Group of educational and training indicators: General attendance rate, Accessibility to educational institutions (distance from home to school); Group of medical and health care indicators: Number of doctors, number of hospital beds per ten thousand people, Accessibility to medical facilities (km) and supplementary criteria group: Percentage of households using electricity from the national grid and the percentage of households with permanent houses 1.2 Practical basis Based on documents and secondary statistics, the dissertation provides a general analysis of the current situation of living standards in Vietnam and the Northern Midwest through selected groups of indicators In the period 2010 - 2020, standard of living of Vietnam and the Northern Midland and Mountainous region has had positive changes in many aspects, notably the change in monthly income, poverty reduction and the increase in income, indicators of education, health and health care, supplementary indicators… However, there are still significant disparities between localities, especially districts and communes with difficult living conditions Overview of the current situation of standard of living of Vietnam and the Northern Midland and Mountainous region is an important basis for the author to analyze and compare when researching in Thai Nguyen province Chapter FACTORS AFFECTING LIVING STANDARDS IN THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE 2.1 Geographical location, territorial extent Thai Nguyen province consists of 178 communes, wards and towns In which, there are 16 highland communes; 107 mountainous communes; 55 midland communes, wards and towns The geographical position of Thai Nguyen province means that it is an important southern gateway to connect the Northern Midlands and Mountains with the capital Hanoi, the Red River Delta and other regions in the country Located in the planning of Hanoi's urban area, the province has received attention with effective investment and development policies, capable of absorbing qualified labor and modern science and technology to serve the development of economic sectors 2.2 Nature - Topography: Thai Nguyen topography is divided into two main areas: mountainous areas (accounting for 90.7% of the natural area) and midland areas (accounting for 9.3%) The mountainous terrain is concentrated in the northern districts of the province The topography of the midland region is common in cities, towns, and southern districts The terrain is favorable for Thai Nguyen province 10 VND) and Vo Nhai 3,167 thousand VND), the remaining districts ranged from 3,200 thousand VND to over 3,600 thousand VND Income difference between 20% of the richest quintile and 20% of the poorest quintile The whole Thai Nguyen province: The income gap between the 20% richest group of households and the poorest 20% of households in Thai Nguyen province fluctuates This difference is 7.5 times in 2010 reduced to 6.4 times in 2020 Territorial disparity in income between 20% of the richest quintile and 20% of the poorest quintile By administrative unit: The income difference between 20% of the richest households and 20% of the poorest households by administrative unit in Thai Nguyen province in the period 2010 2020 shows that in 2010, the difference of administrative units at district level ranges from 7.2 times to 8.1 times c Percentage of poor households The whole province of Thai Nguyen: The number of poor households and the rate of poor households in Thai Nguyen province tends to decrease significantly in the period 2010 - 2020, due to economic development, the number of households in the province is increasing The whole province of Thai Nguyen has decreased from 19.0% in 2010 to 4.1% in 2020 Territorial division in poverty rate: By administrative unit: In the period of 2010 - 2020, the poverty rate by administrative unit has decreased Among them, Thai Nguyen city has the lowest poverty rate in 2020 at only 0.98%; Vo Nhai district has the lowest poverty rate with 8.22%, more than times higher than the average level of Thai Nguyen province, 3.42% higher than the average level of Vietnam 3.1.2 Educational target group a Overall attendance rate The whole province of Thai Nguyen: The overall school attendance rate in Thai Nguyen province is higher than the national average and the Northern Midlands and Mountains region This percentage of the three levels of the whole country is 100.8%/95.1%/73.9% in 2010 and 100.1%/98.1%/84.5% respectively in 2020 School attendance rate of the middle and high school levels tend to increase in the period 2010 - 2020 Territorial division in overall school attendance: By administrative unit: The overall attendance rate of Thai Nguyen province is differentiated by administrative units in the period 2010 2020 In which, by 2020, Thai Nguyen city, Song Cong city and Pho Yen town will reach a high rate (above 97.0%) The remaining 11 districts are in the range of 90.0% to 97.0%; the lowest is Vo Nhai district (90.5%) and Dinh Hoa district (91.4%) b Access to education The whole province of Thai Nguyen: Basically, in Thai Nguyen province, the distribution of educational institutions and the distance to schools are basically good On the basis of collected data and documents, the author of the thesis has calculated that the average distance from home to educational institutions in Thai Nguyen province is 4.1km Territorial division in terms of education access: By administrative unit: Regarding the distance to access educational institutions, there is also a division between localities in Thai Nguyen province The lowest distance is Thai Nguyen city (2.3km) 3.1.3 Group of indicators of health and health care a Number of doctors and number of hospital beds per 10.000 people The whole province of Thai Nguyen: Due to the increasing population size and increasing demand for medical examination and treatment, the number of doctors per ten thousand people and the number of hospital beds per ten thousand people also changed in a positive direction Regarding the target number of doctors per ten thousand people, Thai Nguyen province increased continuously from 10.7 doctors per ten thousand people to 16.7 doctors per ten thousand people in 2020 Territorial division in terms of number of doctors and number of hospital beds per 10.000 people: Thai Nguyen city has the highest number of doctors/10,000 people and the hospital beds/ten thousand people compared to other administrative units in the whole province After Thai Nguyen City, Song Cong City, the remaining district-level administrative units are all lower than the provincial average in terms of the number of doctors per ten thousand people and the number of hospital beds per ten thousand people The lowest number of doctors per ten thousand people among district level administrative units are Dai Tu district and Phu Binh district b Access to health The whole province of Thai Nguyen: All communes, wards and towns in Thai Nguyen province have health stations The average distance to the medical station is 0.8km The average distance from home to the district general hospital, town, city in Thai Nguyen province is 10.8km Territorial fragmentation in terms of access to health: By administrative unit: The average distance from home to medical facilities in Thai Nguyen province is 10.8km The distance from 12 home to the commune health station is close for 9/9 administrative units 3.1.4 Supplementary target group a Percentage of households using the national grid The whole province: In the period 2010 - 2020, the percentage of households using the national grid in Thai Nguyen province increased continuously from 98.6% in 2010 to 99.98% in 2020 Distribution of the percentage of households using the national grid: By administrative unit: The percentage of households using the national grid of administrative units of Thai Nguyen province tends to increase However, there is also a certain division in space and time In the period 2010 - 2020, the percentage of households using national grid electricity in districts, towns and cities in Thai Nguyen province is very high, reaching 96%, administrative units are Thai Nguyen City, Song Cong City and Pho Yen Town 100% since 2010 b Percentage of households with permanent houses In the period 2010 - 2020, the percentage of households with permanent houses in Thai Nguyen province continuously increased, reaching 67.1% in 2010 and increasing to 68.5% in 2020 The percentage of other houses (semi-permanent houses, semi-permanent houses, etc.) unstable houses, temporary houses) accounted for 32.9%, a rapid decrease compared to 2010 Territorial division in the percentage of households with permanent houses By administrative unit: Thai Nguyen city has the highest percentage of households with permanent houses at 98.6% in 2020 Next to Song Cong city and Pho Yen town, districts have a low percentage of households with permanent houses than the average level of Thai Nguyen province, the lowest is Vo Nhai district (60.5%) and Dinh Hoa district (61.0%) in 2020 3.2 Assessment of the current situation of living standards of Thai Nguyen province 3.2.1 Assessment according to the general criteria of the province To evaluate the standard of living in Thai Nguyen province, the author of the disertation places the object in comparison with the Northern Midland and Mountainous region Thereby, there is an overview of the living standards of Thai Nguyen province compared to the general level of the Northern Midland and Mountainous region Basically, in 2020, the living standard criteria of Thai Nguyen province are higher than those of the Northern Midland and Mountainous region because the geographical location, natural conditions and socio-economic conditions of Thai Nguyen province are more favorable than many other provinces in the region 13 3.2.2 Judging by administrative units Based on established criteria, groups, scores and coefficients for each criterion, the formula for calculating the total score helps to determine the total score on living standards by territory of Thai Nguyen province Summary of living standards assessment results by administrative units of Thai Nguyen province in 2020 Ordina l numbe r 10 Administrativ e units Thai Nguyen City Song Cong City Pho Yen Town Dinh Hoa District Phu Luong District Dong Hy District Vo Nhai District Dai Tu District Phu Binh District Thai Nguyen Pro Indicators Tota l (1 ) (2 ) (3 ) (4 ) (5 ) (6 ) (7 ) (8 ) (9 ) 5 5 5 5 45 5 5 5 41 4 4 5 38 1 1 16 2 3 24 3 3 27 1 1 16 3 3 26 3 30 3 3 4 31 (Resourse: Author handles) After having the composite score of the criteria, the author uses the formula of D.L Armand (1975) to rank the assessment The results of the classification of living standards by administrative units of Thai Nguyen province in 2020 Ordina l numbe r Administrative units Total score Group distance (points) Living standard s group Thai Nguyen City Song Cong City 45 41 39,2-45 High 14 Pho Yen Town 38 33,4-39,1 10 Phu Binh District Dong Hy District Dai Tu District Phu Luong District Dinh Hoa District Vo Nhai District Thai Nguyen Province 30 27 26 24 16 16 31 27,6-33,3 Quite high Medium 21,8-27,5 Quite low Less 21,8 Low than Medium (Resourse: Author handles) Thai Nguyen City, Song Cong City are administrative unit species with high living standards Thai Nguyen City has the highest living standards in Thai Nguyen province Pho Yen town has a quite high living standards in Thai Nguyen province Medium living standards is Phu Binh District The three districts with relatively low living standards are Dai Tu District, Phu Luong District and Dong Hy District Low living standards includes Dinh Hoa and Vo Nhai District 3.2.3 Judging by survey data a Overview of the two sub-regions The Northern sub-region includes districts, including upland district (H Vo Nhai with 11 highland communes, town and mountainous communes), mountainous districts namely Dinh Hoa, Phu Luong, Dong Hy and Dai Tu (with highland communes and 84 mountainous communes), accounting for 16 (100%) highland communes, 82 (76.6%) mountainous communes of the province b Survey results To clarify the situation of living standards division by subregion, the author conducted a survey of 360 households, divided respectively in the Northern sub-region (166 households) and the Southern sub-region (194 households) Economic target group - Per capital income/month: The proportion of per capital income /month in the Northern sub-region is highest in group 1, with 65 households accounting for 39.2%, followed by group accounting for 27.8% (46 households) and group accounting for 27, 4% (45 households) Group has households, accounting for 4.2%, group has households, accounting for 1.4% The Southern sub-region has the majority of income in groups and with 129 households, accounting for 66.6%, group accounts for 20.6% (40 households), 15 group has 21 households, accounting for 10.6% and group there are households, accounting for 2.2% - Regarding poverty rate and participation in poverty reduction programs: In the southern sub-region, there are 4/194 poor households, accounting for 2.2%, 14/194 near-poor households, accounting for 7.2%, respectively in the southern sub-region The North has 14/166 poor households, accounting for 8.3% and 18/166 near-poor households, accounting for 10.6% Educational target group - Number of people who don't go to high school The number of people who not go to high school in the Southern sub-region accounts for a very low percentage, the majority of households are no one with 155/194 households accounting for 80.0% In the Northern sub-region, the number of people who did not go to high school accounted for the highest number of households at person, with 90/166 households accounting for 54.4% - Average distance from home to school In the communes of the southern sub-region, all have primary and secondary schools According to the survey, the average distance from home to school is common in the range of 2-3 km, with 106/194 households (accounting for 54.4%) The Northern sub-region has several communes that not have a general school According to the survey, the average distance from home to school is in the range of 5.1-7 km, with 87/166 households (accounting for 52.2%) Group of health indicators and health care Regarding the number of members in households with health insurance, the southern sub-region has 183/194 households (accounting for 94.4%) In the Northern sub-region, 150/166 households (accounting for 90.6%) have health insurance In the southern sub-region, it is very convenient for households to go to the district hospital for medical examination and treatment with a mean distance of less than km in 194 surveyed households, and convenient transportation In the Northern sub-region, the distance to the district hospital accounts for the majority of 14 - 20 km, with 125 households (accounting for 75.0%) Supplementary target group - Proportion of households using electricity: The southern subregion has 170/194 households using electricity from the national grid since 2010 (accounting for 87.8%) The Northern sub-region has 101/166 households using electricity from the national grid since 2010 (accounting for 60.6%) - Type of housing: In the southern sub-region, there are 162/194 households with permanent houses (accounting for 83.4%) 16 In the Northern sub-region, the percentage of permanent houses is lower than that of the Southern sub-region, with 111/166 households in permanent housing (accounting for 66.7%) Most of the indicators in the Northern sub-region are lower than both Southern sub-region and Thai Nguyen province, such as the number of students attending school, the distance from home to educational institutions, the number of doctors per ten thousand people, the number of hospital beds per ten thousand people, the percentage of households using electricity from the national grid, the percentage of households with permanent houses At the same time, there are indicators that are higher but show low living standards such as poverty rate, income gap between 20% of the richest quintile and 20% of the poorest quintile 3.3 Causes of living standards division in Thai Nguyen province - The level of socio-economic development is not equal among regions in Thai Nguyen province - Working population: High quality labor is concentrated in the central areas - Due to natural conditions, Thai Nguyen province has a divergent climate, natural disasters, pests and diseases, infertile soil, and complicated topography - Due to the influence of the economy on people and epidemics, prices are not stable, income is uncertain - Investment policies are scattered, not concentrated, education, health care and employment policies overlap The applied policies are not flexible and mechanical - Policies to encourage production development, create jobs for laborers, tax policies have not maximized their effectiveness Chapter SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE LIVING STANDARDS IN THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE 4.1 The bases for proposing solutions to improve the living standards of Thai Nguyen province Based on documents of Thai Nguyen province such as the Report "Master plan for socio-economic development of Thai Nguyen province to 2030 with a vision to 2050"; Resolution of the XXth Party Congress of Thai Nguyen province, term 2020 - 2025 Based on the current status and economic development strategy, living standards, socio-economic development planning of Thai Nguyen province and the basis and current situation Socio-economic development of Thai Nguyen province, the author of the dissertation has summarized and given the views, goals, orientations and solutions to improve the living standards of Thai Nguyen province