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The 17 SDGs are nationalized into 115 Vietnam SDG (VSDG).
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The Government of Vietnam has made a commitment to utilise all resources at all levels to achieve SDGs.
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To date, there are 2 SDG achievements with significant improvements in most SDGs.
Vietnam first introduced its National Action Plan for the Sustainable Development Agenda in May 2016, with the support from 24 related ministries, line-ministries and international organisations, with the aims to achieve 140 sustainable development indicators by 2019 and the remaining 18 by 2025. These 158 indicators are used to reflect the 17 SDGs and 115 VSDGs, as stated in the Circular No. 03/2019 /TT-BKHDT dated January 22nd, 2019 of the Minister of Planning and Investment.
You can download the Statistical Indicators to measure sustainable development in Vietnam here.
According to the most recent Sustainable Development Report, Vietnam is doing remarkably well! Since 2000, there has been a gradual growth in the SDG Index Score, though the increase has been less significant for the last 3 years. Worldwide, Vietnam is ranked 51th among 165 countries, with a country score of 72.8, which is higher than the regional average of 65.7. The Spillover score of Vietnam is 96.4, meaning the country is causing high amount of positive spillover effects along three dimensions: environmental & social impacts embodied into trade, economy & finance, and security. In the area, Vietnam is ranked second only to Thailand (74.19), and slightly more than China (72.06). Though, there are only 2 SDGs currently achieved in Vietnam, namely SDG4 (Quality Education) and SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production).
While there have been great improvements in SDG1 (No poverty), SDG4 (Quality Education), SDG6 (Clean water and sanitation), SDG7 (Affordable and clean energy) and SDG11 (Sustainable cities and communities) in recent years, the majority of SDGs still have major challenges remained with insufficient score improvement to attain goals. The best performing SDG is SDG4 (Quality Education), with all of its indicators being on track or maintaining SDG achievement. For example, Vietnam has achieved 98.65% net primary enrolment rate, 97.66% lower secondary completion rate and 98.41% literacy rate. Meanwhile, SDG15 (Life on land) seriously needs more immediate actions from the government and other related parties, as all indicators including mean protected terrestrial and freshwater sites, red list index of species survival, permanent deforestation and biodiversity threats are all facing major challenges with decreasing scores.
You can download the detailed SDG Report of Vietnam here.
Vietnam still has a long way to go to achieve all SDGs by 2030 as targeted. The main challenges that slow down Vietnam’s SDGs achievement rate are limited investment capital for development, low level of human resources quality and technology, high dependency on FDI areas and lack of SDG integration at provincial level. A typical poor practice is that only socio-economic criteria are included in budgeting, while the financial incentives for achieving the set environmental targets are strictly limited.
With an increase in new social enterprises and the movement of young entrepreneurs in big cities in the last few years, there is still a hope for SDGs achievement in Vietnam. Let’s look forward to a more sustainable future in Vietnam, where “No one is left behind”.
By Tram Anh Pham
