HANOI, Dec 16 (AFP) - Hanoi has the highest standard of living in Vietnam but the southern business capital of Ho Chi Minh City ranks a lowly 14th out of 61 provinces because of the threat of HIV/AIDS, the UN said Monday.
Based on a series of indicators including education, environment, infant mortality and poverty, the capital and Ha Tay to its immediate south took the top spots in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) survey.
The central coastal city of Danang claimed third place ahead of Hung Yen province, southeast of the capital, in the survey ranking the living conditions and overall well-being of Vietnam's population.
The northwestern province of Son La ranked 61st in the table, with Cao Bang, bordering China in the northeast, finishing second-last.
The survey is the basis of a UN report analysing Vietnam's progress towards meeting UN Millenium Development Goals it has committed to achieving by 2015.
"Although higher quality provincial level data is needed to further confirm the report's findings, the provincial rankings appear to be largely consistent with our field visits to the provinces," said Jordan Ryan, the UNDP's country representative.
The northeastern industrial port city of Haiphong, the gateway for tourists heading to the UNESCO world heritage site at Halong Bay, took seventh place.
Ho Chi Minh City and Haiphong earned their relatively low rankings because of the higher rates of HIV/AIDS infection "that threaten the future of these major urban areas as the country approaches 2015."
The killer disease has infiltrated the general population, with all provinces reporting HIV infections.
"Without urgent and meaningful action taken soon ... the years leading up to 2015 will likely involve increasingly higher human and economic costs that could threaten the sustainability of Vietnam's future development," Ryan said.
Government figures compiled at the end of October showed a total 56,495 people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A total 8,451 had developed full-blown AIDS and 4,649 had died from the disease for which there is no known cure.
Experts say the true number of HIV-positive Vietnamese is at least 200,000, under-reported due to limited testing facilities and a reluctance to admit the full extent of the epidemic.
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