The changed business environment needs to be followed by a skilled and specialized workforce. In Vietnam, basic education is well aligned to global standards, but vocational-technical education and university level are still under-supplied (World Bank, 2020). The share of students in technical or vocational training is about 6%, compared to 27% in the Republic of Korea and 50% in other OECD countries. Secondary, tertiary and technical school enrollment is quite low and the rate of abandonment high. One of the reasons is the cost of higher schooling, as Vietnamese students cover about 40% of the costs and the government expenditure on universities is only 0.5% of GDP (World Bank, 2020).

Since the Đổi Mới, universities have more autonomy and privatization was promoted (Pham & Fry, 2004). Having an education system capable of supplying the growing economy is a policy goal in the Higher Education Reform Agenda- Resolution 14 (2005) and in the National Strategies for Education Development 2001-2010, 2010-2020 (2001; 2012). In response to these initiatives, universities developed international cooperation in education and research, promoting the international mobility of students and academics overseas (Trinh, 2018). Domestic strategies have also been applied, adopting English in many graduate courses, importing foreign curriculums and encouraging transnational institutional mobility. For example, in 2000 the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology was the first foreign-owned university opened in Vietnam, followed by the British Vietnamese University in 2009, and the US Fulbright University in 2016. Examples of model borrowing, where universities receive support and partnership from foreign governments, are also present in Vietnam, such as the VietnameseGerman University in Ho Chi Minh City; the Vietnamese-Russian University in Hanoi (Trinh, 2018).

In parallel to the economic growth, Vietnam experienced also a rapid social and demographic change. The population grew from 23.5 million in 1945 to 96.5 million in 2019 (World Bank, 2020). In 2018, about 70% of the population was under 35 years old. Between 1950 and 2019, life expectancy increased from 52 to 75 years, which is qurrently the highest in Southeast Asia (Khoa, 2021). However, the welfare generated by the economic growth is unevenly distributed with no substantial improvements. The national GINI index measuring income inequalities has been steadily around 42%-43% since the early 2000s. Inequalities are higher in rural areas, especially in Northern midland and mountain areas where in 2018 the GINI index increased to 44%, while urban areas in the South-East had a GINI index of about 37% (GSO data).

Health indicators improved along with the economic growth. Between 1990 and 2015, maternal mortality rates declined by 61%, while child mortality rates droped from 8.6% in 1964 to 2.1% in 2017. These achievements have been followed by a significant increase in public spending on the health care system, which however remains insufficient as households still spend a substantial amount of out-ofpocket money on private health care (Dang et al., 2021). Since 2000, about 15% of the households in Vietnam spent over 10% of their income on health care, and 5% of the population fell into poverty because of health care costs. From 1995 to 2006, the government share of the health care expenditure was about 30% while out-of-pocket payments were about 50%. After 2006, the proportion shifted to 40%-40% and in 2014 government spending accounted for over 50% (Khoa, 2021).

Currently, Vietnam has a mixed public-private health care system with two types of health insurance: the governmant’s social health insurance and private health insurance offered by private insurance companies. The coverage rate of the social health insurance increased from 12.5% in 1998 to about 70% in 2013, while from 2005 to 2014 private insurance covered 5% of the population. Private hospitals are concentrated mainly in urban areas. Public hospitals have problems of overcrowding because of the rapid population growth, making private solutions more appealing to middle- and higher-income households.

The economic and social changes that started in 1986 resulted also in modified consumption behavior. This is particularly evident with respect to the change in demand and consumption of electricity. Between 1995 and 2014, electricity consumption grew 11.3-fold, while during the same period the global average growth was 1.4-fold (World Bank, 2015). Between 2015 and 2018, in only four years the electricity consumption per capita increased of 29.1%, reaching in 2018 the national average of 1,981.1 Kwh/person (GSO data). Today, Vietnam has achieved an almost universal rate of electrification, with up to 98% of all households connected to the electric grids, compared to only 50% in 1995 (Asian Development Bank, 2015; Phu, 2020).

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