Search

Rural decline has emerged as a major political and policy issue in many countries, including rapidly developing nations like Vietnam. National and local/regional governments are searching for policy solutions to rural depopulation, economic stagnation, and employment losses associated with rapid technological change. In some countries, particularly in the Western and industrial world, rural frustrations transformed into political unrest. Vietnam has a more complicated rural reality, marked by modest declines in population, the improvement of rural infrastructure, and significant advances in well-being. Rural conditions, however, have not improved as fast as in the country's major cities, which can add to a sense of rural unease and dissatisfaction even when material conditions are improving. This assessment, based on fifteen years of regular observation across rural Vietnam, highlights the difference between the situation in Vietnam and general patterns of rural decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]