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Vietnam’s two biggest cities are among top five improvers in a global ranking of most liveable cities.

In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s ranking of the world’s most liveable cities, Hanoi and HCMC are two of the five biggest improvers in the last five years along with Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire, Belgrade in Serbia, and Tehran in Iran.

Out of the 140 cities surveyed, Hanoi ranks 107 with an overall rating of 59.7 out of 100, marking a five-year rise of 5.5 percentage points.

HCMC is at 116 with 57.1 points, rising 4.4 percentage points.

This year, Melbourne in Australia gave up the throne after reigning for seven years in a row. Vienna has the top spot now, marking the very first time the Austrian capital has ever made it that far.

Although both Melbourne and Vienna have registered improvements in liveability over the last six months, increases in Vienna’s ratings, particularly in the stability category, gave it the edge.

The two cities are now separated by 0.7 of a percentage point, with Vienna scoring a near-ideal 99.1 out of 100 and Melbourne scoring 98.4.

Other cities that have made it to the top ten this year include Osaka in Japan, Canada’s Calgary, Australia’s Sydney, Canada’s Vancouver, Canada’s Toronto, Japan’s Tokyo, Denmark’s Copenhagen, and Australia’s Adelaide.

To come up with the rating, Economist evaluated the cities in over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. Each factor in a city was rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable.

In January, Hanoi and HCMC were said to be among the top 10 cheapest cities in Southeast Asia this year. The capital city and the nation’s commercial hub took the 7th and 9th place respectively (out of 27) in the Cost of Living Index 2018 compiled by Numbeo, the world’s largest database of user contributed data about cities and countries worldwide.

Source: vnexpress.net

In 2012, the Vietnamese government expressed that Hanoi will lead the country to become the first Smart City in Vietnam. The Smart City project scheme will be able to place Hanoi, which currently leads in modern and urbanizing development, onto the global platform by 2020 as part of Vietnam’s Industry 4.0 initiative, focusing on high technology manufacturing development.

The communist Vietnam has always placed vision onto the 3000 km squared city of Hanoi. With a population of 76.5 million under rapid development, the city is a modern technology hub for its young workforce. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requests works by the government to attract and increase a professional work force and businesses into Hanoi to parallel the objectives in the Industry 4.0 initiative to create a modern, lively and international image.

Hanoi’s Ministry of Communication Nyguen reveals that Hanoi’s Smart City development will be processed in three phases. Hanoi will enter the first phase of development from now until 2020, to establish a foundation as a Smart City. The second phase from 2021 to 2025 will complete smart systems across the city and attract international corporates and FDI to create a technology-based economy. The third phase to take place after 2025 will place Hanoi onto the global platform as a smart city.

The Smart City development will bring a number of benefits to Hanoi, including an improved government and political system to decrease the cost in managing corporates by providing a customer and citizen- based service system. Nyguyen proposes that Hanoi will become the hub of smart technology and systems in Southeast Asia. In 2018, Hanoi has already undergone a number of smart technology developments powered by foreign FDI inflow. In the coming years, it will further establish its smart traffic and tourism systems to compromise its Smart City development scheme.

Besides the Smart Traffic and Tourism systems, the Hanoi government will begin its work on Smart Sustainability, Smart Education and Smart Healthcare systems to create an improved living environment for its inhabitants and tourists.

Golden Emperor Properties periodically hosts property seminars but also at the same time hosts entertainment events for our clients and friends. On Thursday, we hosted a ‘Thai Sensational’ Cooking Class, guided by Ms. Fu, Head Chef and Founder of Queen’s Kitchen. Ms. Fu shared her cooking secrets into crafting delicious Thai dishes and her dishes were popular among the clients who enjoy the special evening with us in the kitchen.

In the past few years, China has developed automated controlled manufacturing and factories have relocated to countries including Vietnam to reduce labor cost. China still leads as the world’s largest exporter in apparel manufacturing. However, as labor cost rises in China, Vietnam’s manufacturing sectors continue to soar along with its ongoing economic development.

Bangladesh Dhaka-based industry magazine, TextileToday reported in 2016, Vietnam’s apparel exports accounted for 16% of Vietnam’s total outbound trade and is the third-largest apparel exporter in the globe. At the same time, apparel manufacturing accounts for 70% of exports in the textile sector. Vietnam’s domestic market shows a healthy perspective with a large population of 900 million and a large younger generation present in the nation, recent increase in income within a rising middle class has resulted in a 20% boom in the country’s domestic retail sector. Vietnam has over 6,000 garment and textile manufacturing companies, with over 25 million workers. From recent analyses, the sector will grow by 14% per year and reach a market value of USD 50 billion  by 2020.

“We have realized that many international brands have migrated into the Vietnamese market, relocating their headquarters to the country. From a historic point of view, Vietnam is similar to China 10 years ago, although much of Vietnam’s economic activity comes from private-sector businesses. The Vietnamese government does not actively support the textile industry, though on the other hand, they have not emplaced policies that would hinder sector growth, which remains crucial to manufacturers.”

A large number of FDI has accumulated in the Vietnamese market. In the first 11 months of 2017, FDI in the country’s manufacturing sector grew by 11.9%, with the majority  in apparel and textile manufacturing.

Vietnam’s FDI sources are mainly coming in within the Asia region, with Japan and South Korea leading in investments. Japan’s Union Industry is one of the largest investors providing manufacturing machines and equipment to the country. Giovanni Lamberti, Union Industry’s international sales director, remains confident in the Vietnamese garment sector: “Vietnam is emerging as a leader in manufacturing and production and we predict that its market value will reach USD 50 billion and be able to develop micro-niches besides wholesale production.”

Golden Emperor Properties is a professional overseas property agency that offers new and second-hand property projects worldwide for our clients. Our subsidiary company, Emperor Key provides property management solutions worldwide, including after sales follow-up, mortgage applications, property inspection and renovation, furniture purchases and installation, property leasing and management, relocation packages and finance management. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Emperor Key has established multiple offices in Bangkok, Thailand and Saigon Center in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1. Our third office recently had its grand opening in District 2’s New City Thu Thiem and will continue to offer professional and efficient property management solutions and services for our clients.

Photo Above: Emperor Key’s new office in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2, New City Thu Thiem.