Vietnam's poverty rate among households is expected to decrease to below 6% by the end of this year from 6.7% late last year, according to the country's Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs on Tuesday. In the 2015-2017 period, the poverty rate dropped by an average of 1.59 percentage points each year, surpassing the country's target of annual decline of 1-1.5 percentage points. However, poverty rates have remained high in many poor districts, especially in mountainous and remote areas and provinces prone to natural disasters, standing at over 50%. Over half of poor households are from ethnic minority groups, and the average income of ethnic minority families is two fifths of the national average. Among 24.51 million households nationwide by the end of last year, 1.64 million were considered poor households, said the ministry. (Xinhua Sept 18)
