We made it clear how the lifestyles of university students are in Vietnam, by conducting the quantitative survey for 1000 people as well as the depth interview of nearly 100 people. Let us find it out their income, housing, food, beauty, digital and university lifestyle.

1. Survey about Vietnam university lifestyle

2. Research Methods
We conducted both the quantitative and qualitative researches to Vietnamese
university students to research their trend and insight.
Quantitative research
university students in HCM
and Hanoi
Home Visits・
Individual interview
1000
Students
15
Students
30
Students
Interview couples on the
street
30
Students
Diary study (things to eat/things
to buy)

3. Vietnamese University Student’s"Living"

4. Living Environment of University Students
Family
home/
live with
relatives
47%
Room
mate/
student
dorm/live
alone
53%
Rent a
room, 66%
Student
dorm, 17%
Apartment,
6%
Room
mates, 61%
Live alone,
18%
Brother/
Sisters,
17%
Others, 4%
Home environment Housing types
(except family home)
Students who live with
（except family home）

5. Living Environment of University Students
Housing cost of student dorm is about 300,000 VND/person.
Housing cost of sharing apartment is from 1M VND/person.
4 people/room
1,500,000 VND/person
8 people/room
350,000 VND/person
2 people/room
1,750,000 VND/person
1 person/room
2,000,000 VND/person
4 people/room
1,500,000 VND/person

6. Characteristics of VN University Student’s housing
(Living with roommates)

7. Characteristics of VN University Student’s housing
(Living with roommates)
Sleep on a mattress on the
floor, no bed.
When a friend visits, chat on
the mattress. This mattress
is for two people to sleep.
Shared kitchen. Many students
use portable stove.
Place to study is on folding table.
The diffusion of smartphone and
PC is high.

8. Characteristics of VN University Student’s housing (Living
in student dorm)

9. Characteristics of VN University Student’s Housing (Living
in student dorm)
There is no kitchen, so a
corner of a room is
temporary kitchen. Rice
cooker is only kitchen
No hot water is available.
Shared washer machines
are available for a fee, but it
is common to do the
laundry by hand.
There is private space only on the bed. Huge
animal stuffs occupies the space.
8 people/room. Plain and simple except bed
and desk.

10. Characteristics of University Student’s Housing:
Little Privacy
They basically have a personal space only on the bed in both shared
room, and student dorm.

11. Characteristics of University Student’s housing:
The modest sink/basin area
Kitchen is shared. They do laundry and dishes in bath room. They
do laundry with plastic water tub. They cook at shared kitchen or in
their room with portable stove.

12. The percentage of students who own PC and smartphone is pretty high, and for
anytime use, every single room has been equipped internet. Internet is necessary
for killing time, communication, and study.
Characteristics of University Student’s housing:
Internet usage is essential

13. Things there are where university students in Japan live, but not in Vietnam.
Things there are where university students in Vietnam live, but not in Japan.
Air
conditioner
Washer
machine TV Closet Microwave
Electric fan
Plastic water
tub
Portable
Closet Wet mop Animal stuff
Characteristics of University Student’s housing:
Difference between Vietnam and Japan

14. Vietnamese University Student’s"Food/Drink"

15. Diet of University Students
Typical cost of food/drink for students who live without family is between 2M~3M VND. The percentage
of eating out for breakfast is high, and they tend to try to save money by cook themselves. In the case
of students who live in family home, they do not need to pay any when they eat out with family, so
spending is less. (But they eat a good meal.)
52%
81%
88%
48%
19%
12%
Breakfast Lunch Dinner
Live with family
Eat at home
Eat outside
37%
63%
73%
63%
37%
27%
Live without family
Eat outside
Cook and eat at home
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

16. Example of Diet of University Students: Weekdays
Male
7:30: Banh Mi(10K) 11:20: Buy Instant noodle at
Ministop(20K)
17:20: Buy POKARI
SWEAT at Ministop(9k)
19:55: Chicken set meal at
local diner(31K)
Female
6:30: Milk(6K) 12:00: Noodle with soup
at dining room near by
school(25K)
17:00: Cook instant noodle
herself at home(8k)
Diet with a focus on Vietnamese food. Students try to eat modest meals as much cost as
around 50,000 VND/day on weekdays.
20:30: Milk(6K)

17. Example of Diet of University Students: Weekends
Male (Day of dating)
9:40: Noodle with
crab(25K)
9:40: Soy milk(15K) 12:00: Korean Ice
cream(80K)
13:00: Chicken hotpot
（180K-2people）
19:00: Beef soup(Cook by
himself)
Diet on weekends is sumptuous. Many students eat ice cream and go to café. In case of
students live with family, some parents pay all cost of food and drink students spend.
Female
7:00:Eating out(23K) 12:00: Vietnamese
restaurant(100K)
9:30: Soy milk with family 14:00: Snack. Buy at
Big C
19:00: Dinner with a
friend（200K)
20:00: Pudding at
convenience store.

18. Characteristics of University Student‘s diet
Most foods they eat are Vietnamese Noodle・Noodle・Noodle
Students especially who live without family eat
noodles very often both home and outside.
They often eat instant noodles, but also often
eat noodles without any toppings or with only
chill sauce.
Some cases that many people eat hotpot
together have been seen, but 80%~90% of
meals students have are Vietnamese. Some
exceptions on weekdays are steak for lunch.
Eating Japanese foods are really rare case.

19. Characteristics of University Student‘s diet
Snacks for nutrition and filling Use of reasonable and youth-
oriented Cafe
Reasonable and good atmosphere
cafe such as Highlands, The Coffee
house and Koi is popular. Biggest cafe
chain, Trung Nguye, tends to be
avoided? Students who live with family
prefer cafe chain, others prefer local
café.
Many students drink milk as light meal
and supplemental nutrition drink. Some
students also eat fruits between main
meals.
Cool students drink Budweiser?
Cases that especially wealthy students
drink western beer such as Budweiser
and Heineken are often seen. These
kind of beers are double cost of local
beers, but make students feel superior.

20. University Student’s Cooking Environment
(Students who live without family)
Kitchen is shared. It is often the case that there is not refrigerator. There is no
space to stock, so students have limited kitchen appliances.

21. Chicken stewed
Soup with tofe and
green onion
Noodle with napa
cabbage and chervil
Noodle with vegetables and egg
Rice with boiled egg and winter
melon soup
University Student’s Cooking Environment
(Students who live without family): Ingeniousness of cooking
There is a case that kitchen is shared and there is not refrigerator, so students use limited
kitchen appliances to make ingeniously many kind of foods.

22. Chicken stewed
Soup with tofe and
green onion
Noodle with napa
cabbage and chervil
Noodle with vegetables and egg
Rice with boiled egg and winter
melon soup
University Student’s Cooking Environment
(Students who live without family): Ingeniousness of cooking
There is a case that kitchen is shared and there is not refrigerator, so students use limited
kitchen appliances to make ingeniously many kind of foods.
Everything cooked by rice cooker

23. Vietnamese University Student’s"Fashion"

24. Fashion of University Students
Frequency of purchasing cloths is not low, but spending is not high; half students spend
less than 300,000 VND. It is cheap to spend money on per product.
21%
32%
17%
9%
4% 4%
9%
Spending for cloths/month
21%
18%
11%
13%
35%
2%
Frequency of buying cloths

25. Characteristics of University Student‘s fashion
Attach importance to cost
Low brand recognition（Use of fake） Use of reasonable fashion brand
Shoes＞Bag
Bag they bring is usually knapsack because of
convenience. It is often case that female students bring
non-brand pouch. On the other hand, as they start caring
about fashion, it is often case that they wear sports shoes
such as Nike.
Reasonable local fashion brands such as Yame and Juno
have dramatically been increased. These brands are
getting popular among fashionable students. Fast fashion
is most fashionable.
Since brand recognition is
low and they attach
importance to design, some
of them use many fake
products without knowing it
is actually fake.
They attach importance to cost more than anything. It is
mainstream to buy at the local market or store, but also use
of online store has increased. As they start caring about
fashion, they try to differentiate against others by design of
products rather than brand of products.
37%
17%
5%
Cost
Design
Brand
What do you attach importance to in regard to fashion?

26. Fashion of University Students: Normal
• Tops (200K)
• T-shirts (100K)
• Jeans (320K)
• Sandals: Adidas?(180K)
It is often case that guys wear sandals.
Adidas sandals are fake.
• T-shirts (50K)
• Jacket (200K)
• Jeans (170K)
• Sandals (110K)
All are purchased from local stores or
market. Jacket is necessary for sunburn
prevention.
Mix and match outfit with cheap cloths purchased from local store, market, and
supermarket.
• T-shirts (40K)
• Shorts (150K)
• Shoes (250K)
• Watch: Casio (500K)
All of them are purchased from local store
and flea market. Casio watch is not G-
shock.

27. Fashion of University Students: Fashionable
• Tops: Tu by CATU (Local) (300K)
• Shorts: Forever 21 (400K)
• Shoes: Adidas (1,500K)
• Watch: CK (1500K)
Mix and match outfit with fast fashion
brand and oversea purchase. She wears
revealing cloths.
• Tops: baby doll (170K)
• Bottoms: ZARA (200K)
She buys online at low cost and expands
collection of brand products.
A part of wealthy university students (top 10%) mix and match with fast fashion brand and
local fashion brand.
• Tops: Jan shop (Local) (180K)
• Pants: Fusionism (Local）(380K)
• Shoes: Nike (1,900K)
He gets more fashionable with favorite
Nike shoes.

28. Student’s Fashion Sensitivity
Students have an interest in fashion, but only a part of them spend certain amount on it.
Interest in fashion
Spending
This type of students wear fast
fashion cloths such as ZARA,
and accessories bought by
oversea purchase. They know
they are fashionable. Girls come
from rich family.
This type of students have an
interest in fashion, but they
don’t have enough money.
Brand recognition is low even
though a desire to learn is high.
They choose unique fashion
products. In regard to
cosmetics, quantity is more
important than quality. They like
SNS and internet.
This type of students
mix and match in their
own way, but interest
in fashion is low. They
choose and buy cheap
products from local
market, and store.
Non existence

29. Vietnamese University Student’s"Dating"

30. First Meeting Somebody University Students Date with
It is common that first meeting with somebody students date with is at school,
but about 30% of them meet on the internet or SNS.
Q：Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend? （N＝1001)
36%
56%
8%
Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
Yes, I have a girlfriend/boyfriend
No, I don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend
I refuse to answer
54%
20%
10% 11% 9% 7% 5% 2% 2% 3%
First meeting with somebody you date with

31. Student’s Date Plan: Japan
10:00 Meet up at Shibuya
12:00 Lunch at Italian
restaurant
13:30 Theater
16:00 Window-shopping
19:00 Dinner at Japanese bar
restaurant
22:00 Dismiss in Shibuya
Cost/day：About 2M
VND

32. Student’s Date Plan: Vietnam
11:30 Pick up at girl friend’s
home
12:00 Lunch at the local street food
13:00 Café in 1st district
15:00 Theater
20:00 Take a walk/Dinner
22:00 Drop off at girl friend’s home
Cost/day:
50,000 – 200,000 VND

33. Characteristics of University Student‘s Dating
22%
20%
12%
10% 9%
6%
5%
4% 3% 3% 3% 3%
Where do you often go on a date？
Theater + Café is classic date plan.
Cost of date is 50,000-20,000 VND. Date plan
includes non-cost activities such as “take a walk,”
and “park.”
Who you are with is more important than what
you do.
Guys pick up and drop off their girl friend. Guys
pay 70% of all cost.
Messaging: several hours/day

34. Difference of Gift for Girl Friend between Vietnam and Japan
Feelings expressed through price
PRADA wallet
Feeling is more important than price.
Daniel Wellington watch
Disney resort hotel
stay
Animal stuffs Flower bouquet
Handmade
photo album
Cost is about 100,000 VND

35. Interview Student’s Couples on the Street
• Dating period: 2months
• Went to same high school
• Dating 3-4times/week
• Usual dating plan: Theater
• Anniversary: Trip to Vung tau
• Dating period: 5months
• Went to same high school
• Dating 1-2times/week
• Usual dating plan: Drink milk
tea and take a walk
• Wear matching colors when
dating
• Because they can only meet
2 times a week, they
message each other on
Facebook for five hours
everyday
• Dating period: 2months
• Go to same university
• Meet everyday
• Usual dating plan: watch
movie and take a walk
• Go to see her everyday even
though he has a part time job

36. Vietnamese University Student’s"Digital life"

37. Student‘s Smartphone: Almost all of the Students have
29%
27%
9% 9%
6% 6%
3% 4% 4% 3% 2%
6%
What company’s smartphone do you
have?
Yes, I do,
93%
No, I
don't, 7%
Do you have a smartphone?
Q. What company’s smartphone do you have? (N=1001)
93% of students have smartphone. About 30% of them are iPhone users.

38. Student‘s Smartphone：Background Image
It is the often case that background image is girls picture since guys who
have a girl friend use her picture and girls use their selfie pictures as
background image.

39. Student’s Use of Digital
Students spends a lot of time on Social network. App usage are “Facebook”,
“Games”, “Camera360”, “Tflat dictionary”, and “Grab/Uber”.
98%
58%
35%
12%
5% 3% 2% 2% 1% % 1%
SNS students often use

40. Different Apps Used by Students between Japan and Vietnam:
Communication Apps
LINE is for communication. Instagram is for
posting daily life and self-expression. Facebook
is for things without hindrance.
Because of too many connections, the
service is too tiresome.
Condition of anonymity make you rest
assured that you can post whatever.
Tool for showing off everyday life.
All communications are along with LINE.
The rate of use of FB and Zalo is high. FB is for
communication, collecting, and spreading
information.
Information hub all students use.
Communication tool for close
relationships.
Belatedly there is trend signs in Vietnam.

41. Different Apps Used by Students between Japan and Vietnam: Lifestyle
Apps
Shopping
Can be use to buy ticket as well as
fashion items.
News
Able to receive a wide array of news.
Handy
A scheduling app used to organize part
time jobs and activities.
Study buddy
You can ask any type of questions.
Shopping
Used to buy and sell fashion items.
Popular among fashionable students
News
The center for all types of information
among students
Handy
A cheap ride sharing app popular among
students for transportation
Study buddy
Dictionary app that is a must have for
students.

42. Analysis about digital life: Is the decline of Facebook possible?
6%
17%
19%
13% 12%
7%
26%
Less than
1 hour
1-2 hours2-3 hours3-4 hours4-5 hours5-6 hours 6 hours
Frequency of Facebook use/day
26%
21% 21%
17%
15%
Several
times/day
Once/day Several
times/week
Irregular I rarely use
Frequency of instagram use
Increase, 22%
Increase a
little bit, 33%
Same, 22%
Decrease a
little bit, 14%
Decrease, 8%
Changes of Facebook use (compared to 1 year
ago)
In terms of Facebook use, there has been no signs of decline so far. The reasons of “too many connections”
have been a factor of Facebooks decline in other countries. However, that is currently not the case in
Vietnam. In addition, instagram use is quite low.
Half of all the
students use
All students use

43. How to use Facebook: Example of Sophomore Heavy User
② Photo Album filled with selfies
③ 3800 friends（most of them are
unknown）
④ Post & share 3~6times/day
① Constantly updated ”enhanced
profile pictures”
❶
❷
❸❹
Example of heavy user (10% of all the students post more than 4-5times/day)

44. How to use Facebook: What do Students Post/Share?
Use for self-expression as well as sharing for bookmarking contents
Cool selfiesPsychological
tests
Favorite celebritiesUseful informationBeautiful daily life
InfluencerFoodsInspirational
quotes
Feel-good videosTransformation app

45. Analysis about digital life: What type of contents do they react
to?
Even though most students use Facebook, not all of them post and share. Students who frequently
post and share, use these features to share their feelings as well as bookmarking their contents.
3%
64%
14%
11%
3%
5%
I don't post Less than once Once 2-3 times 4-5 times 6 times
Frequency of posting on Facebook/day
29% 46% 20%
Share contents as bookmarking contents
Strongly agree Agree
Neither agree or disagree Disagree
Strongly disagree
12% 34% 41% 11%
Express feelings on Facebook
Strongly agree Agree
Neither agree or disagree Disagree
Strongly disagree
Receive & dispatch contents (33%)Receive contents (67%)

46. Vietnamese University Student’s"Club activity"

47. Difference of Club Activity between Vietnam and Japan
Place to meet
new friends
Place for
hobbies
Living the life
Extra credit
Forge new
connection
Improve skills

48. Popular Club
FutsalTennis
Most prominent type of club
at universities. If joined, you
can be popular and have a
fun college life.
It is easy to learn and make
new friends. Getting
popular among females as
well.
There are many students belong to academic clubs in Vietnam. One of the
reasons these clubs are popular is that you can get points and chance to
receive scholarships.

49. Popular Club
FutsalTennis
Most prominent type of club
at universities. If joined, you
can be popular and have a
fun college life.
It is easy to learn and make
new friends. Getting
popular among females as
well.
LanguageVolunteer
Many students join and
support rural area and
elderly. Good memories in
school days with social
contribution.
Language club is popular
since that would be useful
for job hunting and also
give extra credits.
There are many students belong to academic clubs in Vietnam. One of the
reasons these clubs are popular is that you can get points and chance to
receive scholarships.

50. Examples of Students who belong to clubs
Banking University Senior / Housing: Student dormitory(8 people)
Income: ３M VND / Spending: ２.７M VND
• Financial club Vice President
• 60 members
• Learn financial and investment knowledge as club activities every week.
• Plan and manage finance-related event held once a year. Work for
attraction of sponsors and end up getting funded 20M VND + scholarships
(total about 200M VND).
FTU Junior / Housing: Apartment (Live with father)
Income: 5M VND / Spending: 5M VND
• Social work Club
• 80 members
• Activities: Play games, dance and sing together with poor children. Give
away cloths and books collected thorough Facebook.
• It is attractive to meet many new people and to create values. If joined, that
can be selling point when applying scholarship and job hunting.

51. Vietnamese University Student’s"Part time job"

52. Student’s Part Time Job
30%
20% 19%
22%
6%
3%
1%
Less
than
1M
VND
1 -
1.5M
VND
1.5 -
2M
VND
2 - 4M
VND
4 - 6M
VND
More
than
6M
VND
Others
Part time job monthly wage
Q. Do you do a part-time job? N=1001
44%
27%
17%
13%
10% 9% 7% 6% 5% 4%
19%
Part time job students currently do or
used to do
Part time job students currently do and used to do the most is restaurant/café, but wage of restaurant/café is low, on
average 15,000 VND/hour. In terms of tutor, wage is high, on average 80,000 VND/hour, so it is popular for students
who go to smart universities or have language skill. There are cases that they use agency or website, but also there
are some cases that they find a job through word of mouth.

53. Examples of Interesting Part Time Job
• Freelance Japanese tutor
• Income: 6M VND/month
• Teach Japanese to four
students（27 years old, 30
years old, 3３years old）
Japanese tutor for working
adults with high language
skill
Cooperation with old sister
in Chine to sell products on
Facebook
• Online Facebook shop
• Sales: 6M VND/month
• Old sister who live in China
purchase products there and
she sell them on FB. She
designs a part of products.
All-the-time translator for
Japanese and Vietnamese
couple.
• Translator
• Wage 2M/month
• +100,000VND/hour
• Translator for male Japanese
and female Vietnamese
couple. She go with them
when dating.
Untraditional/interesting part time jobs usually have a higher salary. To have more
choices for your job depends on whether you have connections.

54. Vietnamese University Student’s"Household accounts"

55. Student’s Income and Spending
Live with family Live without family
Rent 0 VND 800,000 VND
Food/Beverage 1,800,000 VND 2,500,000 VND
Fashion 320,000 VND 300,000 VND
Entertainment 300,000 VND 230,000 VND
Trip 130,000 VND 190,000 VND
Health/Beauty 210,000 VND 170,000 VND
Extra classes 520,000 VND 430,000 VND
Others 500,000 VND 300,000 VND
Total 3,780,000 VND 4,920,000 VND
Half of all the spending is spending for food/beverage. Absolute cost of other
spending is low.

56. Difference of Income and Spending between Vietnam and Japan
Vietnam
（Live without family）
Japan
（Live without family）
Rent 800,000 VND 14,000,000 VND
Food/Beverage 2,500,000 VND 10,000,000 VND
Fashion 300,000 VND 3,000,000 VND
Entertainment 230,000 VND 2,000,000 VND
Trip 190,000 VND 2,000,000 VND
Health/Beauty 170,000 VND 800,000 VND
Extra classes 430,000 VND 0 VND
Others 300,000 VND 3,000,000 VND
Total 4,920,000 VND 34,800,000 VND

57. Difference of Income and Spending between Vietnam and Japan
16%
51%
6%
5%
4%
3%
9%
6%
Vietnam (live without family)
Rent Food/beverages Fashion Entertainment
Travel Health/Beauty Extra classes Others
40%
29%
9%
6%
6%
2% 0%
9%
Japan (live without family)
Rent Food/beverages Fashion Entertainment Travel Health/Beauty Extra classes

58. Vietnamese University Student’s"Persona"

59. Student Persona: Conservative Female Student
Lives a frugal lifestyle while being satisfied with her current situation. Although love to put
in constant effort, lacks action because of her dislike of change. Spends her spare time
on Facebook.
• Live in apartment 4people/room（Rent: 1M VND)
• Spending/month: 4 M VND
• Smartphone: Cheap Samsung
• Part time job: No（Used to do, but quit quickly）
• Fashion: Don’t have any brand products
• App: Facebook, YouTube, Zalo
• Travel experience: Vung Tau
• All information circulated lies in Facebook. Dislikes things that have “costs”
• How to spend weekdays
• Morning: Classes
• Afternoon: HW/nap at home
• Facebook, YouTube
• How to spend weekends
• Nap/Facebook
• Hang out with roommates
• Shop at local market/supermarket.

60. Student Persona: Steady & Hard Work Male Student
A well rounded personality that focuses solely on school club activities and studying,
rarely plays around. Takes good care of his sister. Lives a frugal life, even though his
family is from a privileged background.
• Live with younger sister (Rent: 1.5M VND)
• Spending/month: 4.5M VND (low spending of food & beverage, live a simple and plain
life)
• Smartphone: Samsung (Galaxy)
• Part time job: Tutor
• Fashion: Nike sports shoes
• App: Facebook, Grab, Google Translation, Game
• Travel experience: Have no experience of traveling abroad, but experience of domestic
travel for volunteer activities.
• Facebook use is mostly messenger and has a lot of connection
• How to spend weekdays
• Morning: Classes
• Afternoon: Club activities/HW/Tutor
• Evening: Game/study English
• How to spend weekends
• Nap/Facebook
• Watch Free movie/Premier league TV
• Have a meal/take a walk with sister

61. Student Persona: Fashionable Student
A living-the-life girl type that has the ability in making her own privileged lifestyle. Her
family comes from a rich background, thus she has a lot of beneficial experiences and
opportunities. Her parents are very influential.
• Live with family
• Spending/month: 6M VND(When buying expensive products, parents pay for it)
• Smartphone: iPhone 6
• Part time job: English tutor
• Fashion: ZARA, Adidas
• App: Facebook, Instagram
• Can speak in English
• Travel experience: Have experience of traveling abroad such as Southeast Asia (with family)
• Understands the differences between Vietnam and other countries. (Also patriotic)
• How to spend weekdays
• Morning: Classes
• Afternoon: Hang out with friends at Café/do part
time job
• Evening: HW (Project)
• Watch YouTube, read books to get information
• How to spend weekends
• Lunch with family
• Boyfriend come to pick up & go on a date
• Cafe＞Cinema

62. Thank you very much