Hanoi (VNA) – The 16th edition of the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) report, capturing citizen perceptions of local governance, shows positive progress in the provision of public services to citizens in 2024.

The 2024 PAPI report, which was launched in Hanoi on April 15, reflects the opinions of 18,894 randomly selected citizens nationwide. The results show that people rated the effectiveness of government activities on seven out of eight PAPI content indicators for 2024 higher than in 2023.

Among the eight indicators, four showed significant progress – "Transparency in Local Decision-Making" (Content Indicator 2), "Control of Corruption in the Public Sector" (Content Indicator 4), "Environmental Governance" (Content Indicator 7), and "E-Government" (Content Indicator 8). The three others, "Citizen Participation at Local Levels" (Content Indicator 1), "Vertical Accountability Towards Citizens" (Content Indicator 3), and "Public Service Delivery" (Content Indicator 6) showed some improvements. However, Content Indicator 5, "Public Administrative Procedures", did not demonstrate a clear improvement.

According to the PAPI 2024 rankings, Quang Ninh ranks top nationwide with a total score of 47.82. It is followed by Tay Ninh and Binh Thuan. Meanwhile, Can Tho, Kon Tum and Kien Giang are in the group with the lowest scores.

The report found that last year, citizens reported greater satisfaction with governance and public administration, highlighting improvements in transparency in local decision-making, control of corruption in the public sector, environmental governance, and e-governance. However, despite these gains, significant opportunities remain to further enhance governance performance. Only three of eight governance dimensions measured by PAPI – control of corruption in the public sector, access to and quality of public administrative procedures and access to and quality of public services – achieve high citizen scores nationwide.

Moreover, disparities in governance satisfaction persist across gender, ethnicity, migration status, and regions.

Corruption emerged as the most pressing concern for citizens in 2024, cited by a record 22.58% of respondents – a sharp 17% increase from the previous year. This surge in concern is likely driven by high-profile corruption cases in 2024 and the continued visibility of the government’s intensified national anti-corruption campaign.

Reflecting an improving national economy, the percentage of respondents rating their household’s economic situation as “poor” or “very poor” dropped to 10.2% in 2024 — the lowest since 2019.

The report also highlights the impact of climate-related disasters on people's perceptions of the household economy. Nearly 40% of respondents said their families or communities have been directly impacted by extreme weather events in the past year.

Ramla Khalidi, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, said that the 2024 PAPI findings underscore the urgent need and opportunity to advance gender equity, social inclusion, and equitable access to public services through the ongoing governance reforms.

She said these findings offer an evidence-based roadmap for improving citizen-centric governance and ensuring that institutional reforms translate into tangible benefits for all Vietnamese citizens.

ܫ PAPI is the result of collaboration between the Centre for Community Support and Development Studies (CECODES) under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA), Real-Time Analytics and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the support for fieldwork coordination from the Vietnam Fatherland Front’s central agencies and its provincial to grassroots chapters since 2009. The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and other research partners participated in the in-depth research and use PAPI data to advise policies for central and local agencies./.