Vietnamese place high value on pursuit of wealth

Vietnamese youth have ambitions to get rich

The pursuit of wealth is particularly important to Vietnamese people, according to a workshop organised by the Foreign Trade University.

In the September 19 discussion, “What motivates people to become wealthier?", author and real estate expert Dr. Rainer Zitelmann focused on presenting people's attitudes towards wealth across different countries.

According to a series of surveys by public opinion research institute Ipsos MORI of 1,000 representatively selected people in a range of countries worldwide, an average of 28 per cent of respondents in the United States and Europe said that being rich was important to them.

In the four Asian countries surveyed, this figure was 58 per cent, with wealth most important to the Vietnamese (76 per cent) and South Koreans (63 per cent). In Vietnam, 80 per cent of respondents between the age of 18-29 think that becoming wealthy is either extreme or very important. The ratio of people between the age of 30-44 having the same opinion was 75 per cent.

Besides this, in Vietnam, the ambition of acquiring wealth for people having a high income is larger than for those with low and medium incomes.

Vietnam and most other Asian nations, except for China, showed low levels of social envy of the rich compared to the US and European countries.

Dr. Zitelmann presented his lecture at the workshop

“I’m looking forward to assisting the Vietnamese people to achieve their financial goals through the sharing of my knowledge and experience, and delighted to share both my successes and failures,” said Dr. Zitelmann.

Over 200 lectures and students participated in the workshop, including Prof. Andreas Stoffers, country director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation; Assoc. Prof. Dao Ngoc Tien, vice president of the Foreign Trade University; and Pham Phuong Thao.

The workshop aimed to clarify people’s attitudes toward the rich and their opinion on the behaviour of trying to become wealthy, with Pham Phuong Thao providing a view of the Vietnamese people on the rich and wealthy

Dr. Zitelmann's presentation was largely based on his upcoming book, The Rich in Public Opinion, which is due to be published on September 24. The book has a particular chapter to clarify how Vietnamese people think about the rich.