Digitisation of middle-class lives in Ho Chi Minh City: Initial findings

Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam’s largest city and one of Southeast Asia’s most rapidly growing regions. The rise of Asia’s middle classes has been newsworthy for years yet Vietnam’s contribution to regional middle-class expansion is largely unknown. What is evident is that middle-class expansion in Vietnam is an urban phenomenon and that Vietnam’s cities are rapidly developing. Digitisation is an important part of city living, ranging from the routine use of personal smart phone apps for communication and delivery services to data capture tools such as fingerprint phone locks, biometric door keys and CCTV. This paper draws on a recent small-scale qualitative study to shed light on who describes themselves as being middle-class in Ho Chi Minh City and in what ways their use of digital apps and biometric tools shape their affluent lifestyles. Based on the initial findings, there are recommendations for future research about Vietnam’s middle classes.