Vietnam now ranks among the world’s top 5 most optimistic nations

Vietnamese consumers’ higher confidence late last year has helped lift the country to be among the world’s five most optimistic nations, Nielsen said.

The ranking is measured for the fourth quarter of 2016, with Vietnam’s Consumer Confidence Index moving up five percentage points from the July-September quarter to a score of 112, the global information and measurement company said in a statement following a survey that ended last November.

The Southeast Asian nation now ranks behind India, the Philippines, the U.S. and Indonesia. At 112, Vietnam ranks third in Southeast Asia after the Philippines and Indonesia, Nielsen said in the poll attended by more than 30,000 online consumers in 63 countries.

Vietnam’s growing middle class population with rising disposable income, higher education level plus the country’s stable economic outlook remain the main drivers for its ranking, Nguyen Huong Quynh, Nielson managing director in Vietnam, said in the statement.

Up to 76 percent of the Vietnamese consumers surveyed said they would place spare cash in savings, down from 78 percent in the previous quarter. Vietnam remains in its top position globally on keeping savings, the survey found.

It also found that, after covering essential living expenses, around two in five Vietnamese consumers were willing to spend big on holidays and vacations (35 percent), new clothes (33 percent), new technology products (30 percent), home improvements (27 percent) and out of home entertainment (26 percent).

“Vietnamese consumers have a strong desire for a better life,” Quynh said. “This reflects in their saving intention to prepare for the better future.”

Health and job security topped the list of Vietnamese consumers’ concerns, the survey showed.

“As consumers are looking to lead healthier lives, the need for food safety and product’s quality arise,” Quynh said, suggesting manufactures and retailers could get opportunity to tap into new markets to meet the consumer’s demand.

Just 20 percent of the respondents in the survey expressed concern over Vietnam’s economic growth prospect, down from 26 percent in the second quarter.

Vietnamese consumers’ rising confidence is in line with the trend in Southeast Asia, which grew five points between the first and the fourth quarter to 115, the index showed.