Written by Mekong Institute

This study examined household saving patterns, its determinants and contribution to the development of rural livelihood in Luang Prabang province. The data of 312 households was collected by structured questionnaires and interviews in 2013 by adopting a simple random technique. Using descriptive statistics, OLS regression and the Likert rating scale, the results show that the majority of rural households tend to save more in forms of cash at home and village savings group than other patterns. Many factors were also found to influence rural household savings. Males and non-farm household heads significantly rise household saving, whereas, household size significantly reduces savings level of households. The study supports the existence of the life cycle hypothesis in savings pattern. Moreover, household saving was found to contribute to the improvement of health status, and agriculture production investment, but is less important to children education and agricultural modernization.