Vietnam Migration Profile 2023 released

Nguyen Minh Vu, Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that in the current context of globalisation, migration is taking place at an increasing scale and speed, affecting all countries. Vietnam is now not only an origin country of emigration, but also a destination and a point of transit for migration. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically assess the migration flows of Vietnamese citizens travelling abroad and those of foreigners into Vietnam, helping to promptly identify evidence-based policy issues to improve migration policies and laws to keep up with practical requirements.

After the two editions in 2011 and 2016, the Vietnam Migration Profile 2023 has several new features, he stated, adding that this is the first time that additional analysis of foreign migration flows into Vietnam and policies and laws related to foreigners' migration are included.

The profile also gives a more comprehensive analysis and assessment of policies and practices on ensuring women's rights during migration, and provides information and results of Vietnam's implementation of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), said Vu.

The official emphasised that promoting legal migration, preventing migration through unofficial channels, ensuring safety, and protecting the rights and legitimate interests of migrants have always been Vietnam's consistent policy.

Vietnam wishes to promote cooperation with other countries as well as United Nations agencies and international organisations to enhance sharing experiences in migration governance, building and managing a migration data system, and stepping up measures to promote safe legal migration and minimise the vulnerability of migrants, he added.

Mitsue Pembroke, Acting Chief of Mission of the IOM, said that the Vietnam Migration Profile 2023 provides a more multi-dimensional view of different aspects of migration through data and evidence-based analysis.

According to the profile’s data, in the 2017 - 2023 period, labour migration continued to be the main form of migration in Vietnam with nearly 860,000 people travelling abroad to work under contracts, mainly in Japan, Taiwan (China), and the Republic of Korea (RoK). Meanwhile, more than 250,000 Vietnamese went abroad to study in the reviewed period, mainly to the RoK, Japan, Australia, the US, Taiwan, Canada, China, the UK, and Germany.

During 2017 - 2022, 475,198 foreigners were allowed to work in Vietnam.