The article applies a multi-criteria analysis method from secondary data and the results of a survey of 150 households to assess the change in living standards of residents in Nhon Chau island commune, Binh Dinh province after implementing the National Target Program on building new rural areas for the period of 2016-2020. Research results show that 45.3% of households believe that living standards have been improved in a positive direction. In particular, indicators of income, expenditure, living conditions in housing, electricity, water, durable goods change greatly. At the same time, the indicators on health care, the percentage of people with health insurance and the educational indicators related to sending children to school at the right age increase
cultural and spiritual life are improved
the rate of multidimensionally poor households decrease, the quality of life improve. The explanation for this change is the promotion of infrastructure construction, capital investment, changes in science and technology in production to help people transform their livelihoods and form new production models, creating new job opportunities and increasing income. However, living conditions in an island commune are difficult, capital is limited, and some families are afraid to change and lack production means, so their living standards are difficult and they still fall into poverty. The current situation of people's living standards before and after the program implementation contributes to supplementing the scientific basis to provide solutions to stabilize livelihoods, successfully implementing the National Target Program for the period of 2021 - 2025 in Nhon Chau island commune, Binh Dinh province.