Provincial People’s Committee Chairman Le Thanh Cung yesterday presided over a meeting to approve new criteria on Binh Duong’s poverty line in the period of 2013 and 2015 with two plans proposed by provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs as follows:

First plan: In the rural areas, poor households are those that have an average income of less than VND1mln /head/month. For urban areas, the figure will be less than VND1.1mln /head/month.

Households with average income of between VND1.001mln and VND1.3mln/head/month are regarded as near-poor households in the rural areas. For urban areas, the figure will be between VND1.001mln and VND1.43mln/head/month.

If the new criteria are approved, the whole province will exist around 9,377 poor households, accounting for 3.53% of total and 12,190 near-poor households, accounting for 4.59% of total by the end of 2013.

Second plan: Households with average income under VND1.1mln/head/month are regarded as poor households. Households with average income of between VND1.101mln and VND1.43mln are regarded as near-poor households. With the new criteria, the whole province will exist 11,105 poor households or 4.18% of total and 14,436 near-poor households or 5.44% of total by the end of 2013.

Reported by Van Son-Translated by K.T