On April 4, the Statistics Office announced a press release on the Space Cost of Living Index (SCOLI) for 2025, reflecting the price difference of consumer goods and services between regions and localities across the country.
According to the announced results, the Red River Delta region continues to be the region with the highest living costs, while the Mekong Delta region is the region with the lowest prices.
SCOLI 2025 is compiled for 6 socio-economic regions, in which the Red River Delta region is used as a benchmark; and also announced for 34 provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, taking Hanoi as a benchmark with an index of 100.
The results show that Hanoi continues to be the locality with the most expensive living costs in the country.
Following are Quang Ninh and Hai Phong, with SCOLI indices of 98.56% and 98.43% respectively compared to Hanoi. The group of 5 localities with the highest living costs in the country also includes Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.
In the opposite direction, the 5 localities with the lowest living costs in the country include Vinh Long, Gia Lai, Ca Mau, Quang Tri and Tay Ninh.
In which, Vinh Long is the locality with the lowest SCOLI index in 2025, only equal to 91.47% compared to Hanoi.
Notably, in the top 10 provinces and cities with the most expensive living standards in Vietnam in 2025, the Northern Midlands and Mountains region has 3 localities participating, including Lao Cai ranked 6th with an index of 97.33%; Lang Son ranked 7th with 97.29%; Thai Nguyen ranked 9th with 96.90%.
This is a group of localities with quite high price levels compared to many other mountainous provinces.
Among these, Lao Cai and Lang Son are both border provinces, with active import and export activities and border gate trade with China.
In Lang Son alone, the traffic volume through border gates in the area at many times reached more than 2,000 vehicles per day, contributing to promoting trade, services and impacting the consumer price level.
For Thai Nguyen, this locality is the center of the Viet Bac region, and also has advantages in developing industry, services and tourism. These are factors that contribute to maintaining high living costs in these localities.
In addition, some other mountainous provinces have "easier" spending levels, such as Lai Chau ranked 11th with an index of 96.79%; Son La ranked 13th with 96.70%; Tuyen Quang ranked 15th with 96.53%; Dien Bien ranked 16th with 96.48%; Phu Tho ranked 23rd with 95.41%; Cao Bang ranked 27th with 94.54% compared to Hanoi.
