Vietnam workforce improves for foreign investors
Vietnam was recognized by the World Bank in April 2026 as one of the top-performing economies under the Expanded Human Capital Index (HCI+), and specifically as one of the top-performing countries at a similar income level. For foreign investors, that second distinction carries more weight than the top-five ranking alone.
The HCI+ extends the standard Human Capital Index by asking how effectively a country converts investment in education and health into a productive, employed labor force, and Vietnam’s score signals a workforce that is both improving and being absorbed into higher-value work faster than regional peers.
The HCI+ is the World Bank’s measure of how much human capital a person can expect to accumulate from birth through their working life, given the health, education, and employment conditions in their country. It is scored on a 0–325 scale, where each one-point gain corresponds to roughly one percent higher expected labor income.
Scores are built from three pillars: Health (adult survival rates and the share of children not stunted); Schooling (learning-adjusted years of education and tertiary enrollment); and Work (labor force participation, wage employment, and unemployment).
Vietnam scored 216 on the HCI+ in the 2026 release, out of a possible 325. That places it second in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) behind Singapore, at 282, and ahead of three higher-income peers: Brunei at 208, Thailand at 202, and Malaysia at 201.
The strongest contributor is schooling. Vietnam’s harmonized learning-adjusted score of 485 is second in ASEAN behind Singapore’s 594, and well ahead of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Related: Vietnam to increase minimum wage in 2026
Reporters note the HCI+ is designed to pick up the mismatch between a country’s education system and its workforce. In Vietnam’s case, the score signals a workforce that is both improving and being absorbed into higher-value work faster than regional peers.
Vietnam’s HCI+ 2026 performance provides several practical signals for investors assessing the country against regional peers.
Vietnam’s strong performance in the HCI+ ranking is notable. The country’s focus on education and healthcare has paid off, with significant improvements in the quality of its labor force. This trend is likely to continue, making Vietnam an attractive destination for foreign investors.
Vietnam’s advantage lies in the improving quality of its labor force rather than an unlimited supply of high-skilled talent. Investors should therefore continue to plan for targeted in-house upskilling, particularly in technical, managerial, and other higher value-added roles where gaps remain.
Labor force participation among the working-age population is 87.9 percent, second in ASEAN behind Cambodia and above Singapore’s 85.4 percent.
Investors should consider Vietnam for company formation due to its strong and improving labor market.
