GDP in 2025 increased by 8.02%

Vietnam’s economy grew by 8.02% in 2025, the second-highest rate in the 2011–2025 period, driven mainly by services and industrial production.

According to data released on the afternoon of January 5 by the General Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance), GDP in the fourth quarter of 2025 rose by 8.46% year-on-year.

As a result, GDP for the whole of 2025 increased by 8.02% compared with 2024, a rate surpassed only by the growth recorded in 2022 (8.12%) over the past 15 years.

Vietnam’s economic growth exceeding 8% stands out amid continued global economic volatility, particularly trade tensions and the United States’ reciprocal tariff policies. This is the highest growth rate in the ASEAN region and places Vietnam among the top-growing economies worldwide and regionally.

With this performance, average GDP growth for the 2021–2025 period reached about 6.3% per year, higher than the 6.2% recorded in the previous term.

Vietnam’s GDP at current prices in 2025 is estimated at USD 514 billion, an increase of USD 38 billion from the previous year. GDP per capita reached USD 5,026, up USD 326 from 2024 (USD 4,700), placing Vietnam in the upper-middle-income country group.

Regarding inflation, the average CPI in 2025 rose by 3.31% year-on-year.

The services sector remained the largest contributor to value added in the economy, accounting for over 51.08%. According to the General Statistics Office, value added in this sector increased by 8.62% compared with the previous year. Meanwhile, industry and construction grew by 8.95%, contributing 43.62% to total value added, while agriculture, forestry, and fisheries accounted for 5.3% of economic growth.

For the first time, Vietnam recorded a record trade turnover exceeding USD 930 billion, up 18.2% from 2024. Of this, exports reached USD 475 billion (up 17%), with 36 products each generating more than USD 1 billion in export value.
 

Lach Huyen Port Complex in Hai Phong, January 20, 2025. Photo by Le Tan

In 2025, nearly 297,500 enterprises were newly established or resumed operations, an increase of 27.4% year-on-year. On average, nearly 24,800 enterprises per month were newly established or returned to operation, while around 18,900 businesses per month exited the market.

Business sentiment also improved. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the proportion of enterprises assessing business conditions as more favorable than the previous quarter increased by 1.1 percentage points, while the shares of firms reporting stable conditions or greater difficulties declined by 0.2 and 0.9 percentage points, respectively.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, Director General of the General Statistics Office, said that GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 was the highest in the 2021–2025 period, with the economy maintaining a trend of each quarter outperforming the previous one throughout the year.

Looking ahead to 2026, Vietnam has set a target of double-digit economic growth, while maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, and ensuring major economic balances. According to Ms. Huong, this poses a significant challenge and requires strong measures to accelerate the disbursement of public investment, especially for key and nationally important projects. At the same time, authorities need to remove bottlenecks and definitively resolve long-standing stalled projects. The economy must also continue deep structural reforms alongside efforts to boost exports and strongly develop the domestic market.

For businesses, she emphasized that regulators should introduce competitive incentive policies and create a more favorable business environment to attract large-scale, high-tech projects. “Vietnam needs to build a selective foreign investment attraction mechanism in several high-potential sectors to create new growth drivers, such as chips, semiconductors, innovation, and green hydrogen,” she said.

Phuong Dung

Source: vnexpress.net