Assessment of Sustainable Development for Ly Son and Phu Quy Islands Using Sustainable Development Index

The objective of this study is to assess the level of sustainable development for the two island districts of Ly Son and Phu Quy using sustainable development index (SDI). The SDI includes 53 indicators representing 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) for three categorical pillars of sustainable development (society, economy, and environment). The SDI values are estimated based on secondary data and primary data collected from 200 households in the study areas. Results showed that Phu Quy and Ly Son districts had the same level of sustainable development with a standardized value of 0.81. Despite achieving a good level of sustainable development, the two island districts still need some improvements in terms of sex ratio at birth (SDG5), ratios of employment and product in processing and manufacturing industries (SDG12) and forestland area (SDG15). In addition, in order to increase the level of sustainable development, the local managers of Ly Son district should improve policies for poverty reduction (SDG1), and the local managers of Phu Quy district should improve ensuring social security and safety for local people (SDG16). In general, the results obtained from this study demonstrate the appropriateness of the SDI in estimating the level of sustainable development for island districts in Vietnam.