Determinants of Households’ Income in Rural Areas: An Empirical Study in Vietnam

Determinants of Households’ Income in Rural Areas: An Empirical Study in Vietnam

The proportion of people living in poverty in Soc Trang is comparatively large. 27,154 households in this province are considered to be poor, which represents 8.4 percent of all households. The gap between rural and urban areas, between farmers and other social classes in this province, tends to increase, and the living standard of people in the countryside remains difficult. This paper aims to investigate the determinant factors of poor households’ income in rural areas of Soc Trang province, Vietnam. Data from 120 poor households in Vinh Chau district and Ke Sach district of Soc Trang province collected in the year 2019 is employed to test the proposed hypotheses in this study. By applying the descriptive statistical method and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, the results show that the factors of production land, number of income generation activities, access to credit, means of transportation, and means of production positively affect the income per capita of poor household in the study area, whereas household size has a negative impact on the household income per capita. Considering the empirical findings, several solutions and recommendations are proposed to improve the income of poor households in Soc Trang province.