Northern Vietnam

This article is about the geographical region in Vietnam. For the former country during the Vietnam War, see North Vietnam.

Northern Vietnam or Tonkin (Vietnamese: Bắc Bộ) is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng). It is near China. Unlike tropical Central and Southern Vietnam, Northern Vietnam has a subtropical climate.^[1]

Map of Northern Vietnam, 1920

Geographic sub-regions of Vietnam

It has a total area of about 109,942.9 km². Its Hanoi is now Vietnam's capital. Among the three geographical regions, the oldest is Northern Vietnam, where the Vietnamese culture originated in the Red River Delta, though Kinh Vietnamese eventually spread south into the Mekong Delta.^[2]

Administration

Northern Vietnam includes three administrative regions, which in turn comprises 25 First Tier units.

Northern Vietnam

Administrative Region	First Tier Administrative Units	Area (km2)[3][4]	Population (2022)[3]	Population Density (people/ km2)	Notes
Northeast (Đông Bắc Bộ)	Bắc Giang Bắc Kạn Cao Bằng Hà Giang Lạng Sơn Phú Thọ Quảng Ninh Thái Nguyên Tuyên Quang	50,826.38	9,474,710	186.41	contains most of the mountainous provinces that lie to north of the highly populated Red River lowlands. Four of them are along Vietnam's border with China.
Northwest (Tây Bắc Bộ)	Điện Biên Hòa Bình Lai Châu Lào Cai Sơn La Yên Bái	50,565.71	4,911,370	97.13	contains inland provinces in the west of Vietnam's northern part. Three of them are along Vietnam's border with Laos, and two border China (Dien Bien borders both China and Laos).
Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng)	Bắc Ninh Hà Nam Hà Nội † Hải Dương Hải Phòng † Hưng Yên Nam Định Ninh Bình Thái Bình Vĩnh Phúc	15,070.70	22,091,250	1,465.84	contains the small but populous provinces along the mouth of the Red River. The Red River Delta has the smallest area but highest population and population density of all regions. It is also the only region without any land borders with neighboring countries.

^† Municipality (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương)

Of all 25 First Tier units, two are municipalities and 23 are provinces.

See also

• Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam
• Regions of Vietnam
• Tonkin