According to a recent Nielsen consumer confidence survey, Vietnamese are the most economical in SE Asia, reported Vietnam Net. If you have Vietnamese family, this probably doesn't come as a surprise.

74% of Vietnamese surveyed said that they were able to save money each month after paying living expenses. Indonesia is ranked second (72%), followed by the Philippines (68%), Thailand (66%), Singapore (64%) and Malaysia (63%). Each of these countries ranked in the Top-10 internationally.

In addition, 90% of Vietnamese said they change their shopping habits in order to save money.

The report also revealed that Vietnam’s consumer confidence index (CCI) hit 98 points in the fourth quarter of 2013, “the highest in two years and over 10 points compared with the same period of the previous year.” Vietnam’s CCI peaked in 2010 at 119 and currently lags behind Indonesia (124), the Philippines (114) and Thailand (109).

But just because people are saving money doesn't mean they are in a good financial situation: “55% said they felt their finances were in a good or very good situation. This rate is 54% in Singapore, Malaysia 56%, Thailand 69%, the Philippines 76% and Indonesia 84%."

Perhaps the saving bug is contagious. Only when I moved to Vietnam did I start to put money away at a consistent rate. Those old 12% interest rates may have helped too.

[Vietnam Net // image via 401k]