Nearly 1.7mn leave Vietnam’s Mekong Delta over past decade as pressures mount: World Bank

The World Bank in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, in coordination with the Can Tho City Institute for Socio-Economic Development, held a conference in Can Tho on Wednesday to release the findings of a study titled 'Living or Leaving: Life in the Mekong Delta Region of Vietnam.'

The report shows that nearly 1.7 million people have left Vietnam’s Mekong Delta over the past decade, driven in part by worsening conditions for agriculture and aquaculture, sectors that are among the most heavily affected by climate change.

The 2024 survey results also show that about 14 percent of households in the region have at least one migrant member, with most leaving in search of jobs.

Migration is particularly common among low-income households, which tend to send more family members away for work and rely more heavily on remittances.

For farming households, migration has become a way to offset income losses caused by droughts, floods or saltwater intrusion.

The report concludes that the future of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta should be built around people, rather than centred solely on existing development spaces.

It recommends prioritizing investment in education, skills, and mobility so that all residents, whether they remain in the region or migrate elsewhere, have opportunities to develop and improve their livelihoods.

Promoting voluntary migration, modernizing agriculture, strengthening human capital, and building adaptive social protection systems are essential for coping with rising uncertainty, the report said.

“A people-centred development strategy would not only reduce poverty and vulnerability but also enable the Mekong Delta to contribute more to Vietnam’s inclusive and sustainable growth,” it added.

A people-centered approach

Speaking at the report’s launch, Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Central Policy and Strategy Commission, said the study has strong scientific and practical value, providing important evidence to support regional development policymaking.

Tuan said the key issue facing the Mekong Delta is not whether people stay or migrate, but how to ensure better living conditions for residents regardless of where they choose to live.

Looking ahead, he said the region should place particular emphasis on three major priorities, starting with further strengthening institutional frameworks for regional development coordination and ensuring effective coordination between the central government and local authorities.

The second priority, he said, is to accelerate the transformation of the Mekong Delta’s growth model towards a greener, higher-value, and more sustainable path.

Agriculture should remain a foundational sector, but no longer be viewed solely as production, instead as part of a broader socio-economic ecosystem linked to processing, logistics, markets, science and technology, and environmental protection.

The third priority is to place investment in people at the center of the Mekong Delta’s adaptation and development strategy.

This includes identifying the development of high-quality human resources and improvements in labor productivity as key drivers of rapid and sustainable growth.