Provinces of Vietnam

"Tinh" redirects here. For the Etruscan god, see Tinia.

Vietnam is divided into 63 first-level subdivisions, comprising fifty-seven provinces (tỉnh) and six municipalities under the command of the central government (Vietnamese: thành phố trực thuộc trung ương). However, in 2025, it was reported that the number of provinces in Vietnam would be slashed to half for cost-cutting.^[1] A proposal reported in April 2025 show the number of provinces and cities to be reduced to 34 through mergers.^[2]

Provinces and municipalities of Vietnam Tỉnh và thành phố trực thuộc trung ương Việt Nam (Vietnamese)
Category	Unitary state
Location	Vietnam
Created	2 July 1976
Number	57 provinces 6 municipalities (as of 2025)
Populations	338,000 (Bắc Kạn) –9,125,000 (Hồ Chí Minh City)
Areas	822.7 km2 (317.6 sq mi) (Bắc Ninh) – 16,493.7 km2 (6,368.3 sq mi) (Nghệ An)
Government	Marxist-Leninist single party provincial government
Subdivisions	District

Municipalities are the highest-ranked cities in Vietnam.^[3] Municipalities are centrally-controlled cities and have special status equal to that of the provinces.

The provinces are divided into provincial cities (thành phố thuộc tỉnh), municipal cities (thành phố trực thuộc thành phố trung ương), towns/borough (thị xã), urban district (quận), and rural districts (huyện) as the second-tier units. At the third tier, a provincial city or town is divided into wards (phường), communes (xã), and townships (thị trấn).

Governance

Provincial Committee of the Communist Party

Provincial Committee of the Communist Party (Đảng bộ Đảng Cộng sản cấp tỉnh or Tỉnh ủy Đảng Cộng sản, simply Tỉnh ủy - Provincial Committee for short) is a provincial subordinate of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Since Vietnam is a one party state, the provincial committee of the Communist Party is the most prominent organ of provincial governance.

Each provincial committee of the Communist Party is headed by a Secretary (Bí thư). The Secretary is de facto leader of the province.

People's Council

The legislative branch of a province is the People's Council (Hội đồng Nhân dân or HDND for short). The People's Council votes on the policy, regulations and orders for development of the province.

Members of the People's Council are called delegates or councillors (đại biểu) and are elected by people living within that province. It is equivalent to the legislative National Assembly of Vietnam. The People's Council is headed by a Chairman (Chủ tịch) and a Vice Chairman (Phó Chủ tịch).

The number of councillors varies from province to province, depending on the population of that province. The People's Council appoints a People's Committee, which acts as the executive arm of the provincial governance. This arrangement is a somewhat simplified version of the situation in Vietnam's national government. Provincial governments are subordinates to the central government.

People's Committee

Further information: People's Committee (Vietnam)

The executive branch of a province is the People's Committee (Ủy ban Nhân dân or UBND for short). The People's Committee is responsible for implementing policy and executing laws and orders. The People's Committee is equivalent to the executive Government of Vietnam. People's Committee also manages the provincial departments (Sở) which are equivalent to the Ministries.

Members of the People's Committee are called commissioners (Ủy viên). The People's Committee is headed by a Chairman (Chủ tịch) and Vice Chairmen (Phó Chủ tịch), and consists of between 4 and 7 commissioners. The number of commissioners depends on the population of the province. The chairman and Vice Chairmen of the People's Committee are also councillors of the People's Council.

People's Court

The judiciary branch of a province is the People's Court (Tòa án Nhân dân or TAND for short). The People's Court is responsible for judiciary processes and trials. The People's Court is equivalent to the judiciary Supreme People's Court of Vietnam.

The People's Court is headed by a Chief Judge (Chánh án) and consists of a number of judges (thẩm phán).

Police Department

The provincial police department is under direct command of the Ministry of Public Security.

State Treasury

Provincial Military Command

List and statistics

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Bạch Long Vĩ Island Phú Quý Côn Đảo Phú Quốc Thổ Chu Islands Paracel Islands  → Spratly Islands  → Provinces of Vietnam Island areas: -Bạch Long Vĩ Island (Haiphong Municipality [3]) -Paracel Islands (Hoàng Sa district, Đà Nẵng Municipality [4]) -Phú Quý Islands (Phú Quý district, Bình Thuận province [46]) -Phú Quốc Island (Phú Quốc City, Kiên Giang province [58]) -Thổ Chu Islands (Phú Quốc City, Kiên Giang province [58]) -Côn Đảo Islands (Côn Đảo district, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province [51]) -Spratly Islands (Trường Sa district, Khánh Hòa province [43])

According to the census results of April 1, 2019, the population of Vietnam was 96,208,984.^[4] The most populous top-level administrative unit is Hồ Chí Minh City, one of the five centrally governed cities, having 9,125,000 people living within its official boundary. The second most populous administrative unit is the recently expanded Hà Nội with 8,146,000 people.^[5] Prior to the expansion of the capital city, this rank belonged to Thanh Hóa with 3,689,000 people. The least populous is Bắc Kạn, a mountainous province in the remote northeast with 338,000 people.

In land area, the largest province is Nghệ An, which runs from the city of Vinh up the wide Sông Cả valley. The smallest is Bắc Ninh, located in the populous Red River Delta region.

The following is a table of Vietnam's provinces broken down by population and area, according to the 2023 Census and the 2018 area data from Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.^[6][7] Municipalities are written in bold.

Province/city	Number on map	Administrative center	Area (in km2) [citation needed]	Population [6]	Density (/km2) [5][note 1]	% Urban [5]	HDI (2012) [8]	GDP per capita (2011 PPP US$)[8]	Region
Bắc Giang province	21	Bắc Giang	3,895.59	1,884,000 [9]	463	11.4	0.711	1,909.44	Northeast
Bắc Kạn province	15	Bắc Kạn	4,859.96	338,000 [10]	65	20.7	0.685	1,766.68
Cao Bằng province	11	Cao Bằng	6,700.26	576,000 [11]	79	23.3	0.653	1,564.27
Hà Giang province	10	Hà Giang	7,929.48	910,000 [12]	108	15.9	0.586	1,083.72
Lạng Sơn province	12	Lạng Sơn	8,310.09	828,000 [13]	94	20.4	0.707	2,201.98
Phú Thọ province	18	Việt Trì	3,534.56	1,515,000 [14]	414	18.1	0.715	1,916.23
Quảng Ninh province	22	Hạ Long	6,178.21	1,387,000 [15]	214	64.1	0.784	7,834.55
Thái Nguyên province	16	Thái Nguyên	3,526.64	1,356,000 [16]	365	31.9	0.741	2,547.11
Tuyên Quang province	14	Tuyên Quang	5,867.90	1,056,000[17]	134	13.8	0.699	1,948.18
Lào Cai province	9	Lào Cai	6,364.03	898,000 [18]	115	23.5	0.670	2,767.55	Northwest
Yên Bái province	13	Yên Bái	6,887.46	950,000 [19]	119	19.8	0.657	1,845.51
Điện Biên province	7	Điện Biên Phủ	9,541.25	705,000 [20]	63	14.4	0.611	1,589.03
Hòa Bình province	23	Hòa Bình	4,590.57	979,000 [21]	186	15.7	0.715	2,343.13
Lai Châu province	8	Lai Châu	9,068.79	527,000 [22]	51	17.8	0.560	1,081.84
Sơn La province	17	Sơn La	14,123.49	1,356,000 [23]	88	13.8	0.634	1,773.90
Bắc Ninh province	20	Bắc Ninh	822.71	1,447,000 [24]	1,664	27.5	0.771	4,451.41	Red River Delta
Hà Nam province	27	Phủ Lý	861.93	945,000 [25]	989	16.7	0.724	2,131.93
Hải Dương province	25	Hải Dương	1,668.24	2,003,000 [26]	1,134	25.2	0.746	2,513.92
Hưng Yên province	24	Hưng Yên	930.22	1,340,000 [27]	1,347	12.2	0.743	2,503.79
Nam Định province	28	Nam Định	1,668.57	1,852,000 [28]	1,067	18.2	0.726	1,904.97
Ninh Bình province	29	Hoa Lư	1,386.79	1,102,000 [29]	708	21	0.733	2,478.79
Thái Bình province	26	Thái Bình	1,586.35	1,934,000 [30]	1,173	10.6	0.738	2,090.86
Vĩnh Phúc province	19	Vĩnh Yên	1,235.87	1,296,000 [31]	932	25.6	0.764	3,990.61
Hanoi	1	Hoàn Kiếm district	3,358.60	8,146,000 [32]	2,398	49.2	0.794	3,923.21
Haiphong	3	Hồng Bàng district	1,561.76	2,138,000 [33]	1,299	45.6	0.773	3,849.18
Hà Tĩnh province	32	Hà Tĩnh	5,990.67	1,402,000 [34]	215	19.5	0.725	2,117.32	North Central Coast
Nghệ An province	31	Vinh	16,481.41	3,399,000 [35]	202	14.7	0.715	2,379.59
Quảng Bình province	33	Đồng Hới	8,065.3	992,000 [36]	112	21	0.716	2,203.01
Quảng Trị province	34	Đông Hà	4,621.72	687,000 [37]	137	30.9	0.696	2,672.10
Thanh Hóa province	30	Thanh Hóa	11,114.65	3,689,000 [38]	328	14.9	0.716	2,434.69
Huế	6	Thuận Hóa district	4,902.44	1,257,000 [39]	230	49.5	0.735	3,072.58
Đắk Lắk province	41	Buôn Ma Thuột	13,030.50	2,016,000 [40]	143	24.7	0.708	2,555.78	Central Highlands
Đăk Nông province	42	Gia Nghĩa	6,509.27	670,000 [41]	96	15.2	0.710	3,000.70
Gia Lai province	38	Pleiku	15,510.99	1,586,000 [42]	98	29	0.689	3,023.20
Kon Tum province	37	Kon Tum	9,674.18	589,000 [43]	56	32	0.656	2,075.42
Lâm Đồng province	44	Đà Lạt	9,783.34	1,390,000 [44]	133	39.2	0.735	3,331.80
Bình Định province	39	Quy Nhon	6,066.21	1,679,000 [45]	245	31.9	0.742	3,089.10	South Central Coast
Bình Thuận province	46	Phan Thiết	7,943.93	1,498,000 [46]	155	38.1	0.732	3,090.17
Khánh Hòa province	43	Nha Trang	5,137.79	1,371,000 [47]	240	42.2	0.752	4,180.68
Ninh Thuận province	45	Phan Rang–Tháp Chàm	3,355.34	720,000 [48]	176	35.8	0.695	2,402.34
Phú Yên province	40	Tuy Hòa	5,023.42	1,056,000 [49]	174	28.7	0.728	2,541.80
Quảng Nam province	35	Tam Kỳ	10,574.86	1,697,000 [50]	141	25.4	0.745	3,192.34
Quảng Ngãi province	36	Quảng Ngãi	5,155.78	1,355,000 [51]	239	16.3	0.718	3,516.44
Da Nang	4	Hải Châu district	1,284.88	1,294,000 [52]	883	87.2	0.803	4,811.58
Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province	51	Bà Rịa	1,980.98	1,303,000 [53]	580	58.4	0.901	36,786.39	Southeast
Bình Dương province	49	Thủ Dầu Một	2,694.64	2,564,000 [54]	901	80	0.751	3,663.54
Bình Phước province	47	Đồng Xoài	6,876.76	1,313,000 [55]	145	23.7	0.734	3,606.56
Đồng Nai province	50	Biên Hòa	5,863.60	3,227,000 [56]	528	32.9	0.763	3,485.16
Tây Ninh province	48	Tây Ninh	4,041.25	1,207,000 [57]	289	17.7	0.744	4,058.65
Ho Chi Minh City	2	District 1	2,061.41	9,125,000 [58]	4,363	79.2	0.820	7,147.09
An Giang province	56	Long Xuyên	3,536.68	2,057,000 [59]	540	31.6	0.730	3,791.46	Mekong Delta
Bạc Liêu province	62	Bạc Liêu	2,669.01	1,105,000 [60]	340	27.7	0.742	3,701.98
Bến Tre province	55	Bến Tre	2,394.81	1,331,000 [61]	538	9.8	0.750	2,978.48
Cà Mau province	63	Cà Mau	5,221.19	1,369,000 [62]	229	22.7	0.743	3,121.66
Đồng Tháp province	53	Cao Lãnh	3,383.85	1,838,000 [63]	473	19.1	0.718	2,240.56
Hậu Giang province	59	Vị Thanh	1,621.70	853,000 [64]	452	25.4	0.743	2,943.84
Kiên Giang province	58	Rạch Giá	6,348.78	1,789,000 [65]	271	28.3	0.750	4,336.43
Long An province	52	Tân An	4,494.94	1,730,000 [66]	376	16.1	0.764	4,012.39
Sóc Trăng province	61	Sóc Trăng	3,311.88	1,256,000 [67]	362	32.4	0.715	2,835.46
Tiền Giang province	54	Mỹ Tho	2,510.61	1,898,000 [68]	703	14	0.770	3,781.77
Trà Vinh province	60	Trà Vinh	2,358.26	1,067,000 [69]	428	17.2	0.717	2,662.89
Vĩnh Long province	57	Vĩnh Long	1,525.73	1,100,000 [70]	670	16.6	0.757	3,360.01
Cần Thơ	5	Ninh Kiều district	1,438.96	1,456,000 [71]	858	69.7	0.788	6,260.52

See also: Postal codes in Vietnam

Regions

Main article: Regions of Vietnam

See also: Subdivisions of Vietnam

Regions of Vietnam

The Vietnamese government often groups the various provinces into eight regions, which are often grouped into three macro-regions: Northern, Central and Southern. These regions are not always used, and alternative classifications are possible. The regions include:

Regions of Vietnam

Macro-region	Region	provinces included	Area (km2)	Population (April 1, 2023)[72]	Population density (people /km2)	Notes
Northern Vietnam (Bắc Bộ, Miền Bắc)	Northwest (Tây Bắc Bộ)	Điện Biên Hòa Bình Lai Châu Lào Cai Sơn La Yên Bái	44,301.1	5,415,000	100.37	Contains inland provinces in the west of Vietnam's northern region. Two of them are along Vietnam's border with Laos, and three border China (Dien Bien borders both China and Laos).
	Northeast (Đông Bắc Bộ)	Bắc Giang Bắc Kạn Cao Bằng Hà Giang Lạng Sơn Phú Thọ Quảng Ninh Thái Nguyên Tuyên Quang	50,684.1	9,850,000	169.05	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.
	Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng)	Bắc Ninh Hà Nam Hanoi † Hải Dương Haiphong † Hưng Yên Nam Định Ninh Bình Thái Bình Vĩnh Phúc	14,957.7	22,203,000	1,318.00	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 neighbouring countries.
Central Vietnam (Trung Bộ, Miền Trung)	North Central (Bắc Trung Bộ)	Hà Tĩnh Nghệ An Quảng Bình Quảng Trị Thanh Hóa Huế †	51,455.6	11,426,000	203.53	Contains the coastal provinces in the northern half of Vietnam's narrow central part. They all stretch from the coast in the east to Laos in the west.
	South Central Coast (Duyên hải Nam Trung Bộ)	Bình Định Bình Thuận Da Nang † Khánh Hòa Ninh Thuận Phú Yên Quảng Nam Quảng Ngãi	44,376.8	10,670,000	206.98	Contains the coastal provinces in the southern half of Vietnam's central part. One province borders Laos.
	Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên)	Đắk Lắk Đắk Nông Gia Lai Kon Tum Lâm Đồng	54,641.0	6,251,000	102.63	Contains the mountainous provinces to the west of south-central Vietnam. There are a significant number of ethnic minorities in the region. One province is along Vietnam's border with Laos, and four border Cambodia (Kon Tum borders both Laos and Cambodia).
Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, Miền Nam)	Southeast (Đông Nam Bộ, Miền Đông)	Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Bình Dương Bình Phước Đồng Nai Ho Chi Minh City † Tây Ninh	23,590.7	18,739,000	683.65	Contains those parts of lowland southern Vietnam which are north of the Mekong delta. Two provinces border Cambodia.
	Mekong River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Cửu Long) or Southwest (Tây Nam Bộ, Miền Tây)	An Giang Bến Tre Bạc Liêu Cà Mau Cần Thơ † Đồng Tháp Hậu Giang Kiên Giang Long An Sóc Trăng Tiền Giang Trà Vinh Vĩnh Long	40,576.0	18,849,000	434.00	Vietnam's southernmost region, mostly containing small but populous provinces in the delta of the Mekong. It is sometimes referred to as the Southwest region (Tây Nam Bộ). Four provinces border Cambodia.

^† Municipality (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương)

Historical provinces of Vietnam

• Ái Châu – existed during the third Chinese domination.
• An Xuyên – existed from 1956 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Bắc Thái – administrative grouping of Bắc Kạn and Thái Nguyên provinces between 1965 and 1996.
• Biên Hòa – existed from 1832 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Bình Trị Thiên – administrative grouping of Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên – Huế provinces between 1976 and 1992.
• Bình Tuy – existed from 1956 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Chợ Lớn – existed from 1900 until 1957.
• Chương Thiện – existed from 1961 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Cửu Long – administrative grouping of Vĩnh Long and Vĩnh Bình provinces between 1976 and 1992.
• Định Tường – existed from 1832 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Gia Định – existed from 1832, became Hồ Chí Minh City following the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Gia Lai – Kon Tum – administrative grouping of Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces between 1975 and 1991.
• Gò Công – existed from 1900 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Hà Bắc – administrative grouping of Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh provinces between 1962 and 1996.
• Hà Đông – existed from 1904 until 1965.
• Hà Sơn Binh – administrative grouping of Hà Tây (old) and Hòa Bình provinces between 1975 and 1991.
• Hà Tây – existed from 1965 to 1975 and 1991 until 2008, when it was merged into Hà Nội.
• Hải Hưng – administrative grouping of Hải Dương and Hưng Yên provinces between 1968 and 1996.
• Hậu Nghĩa – existed from 1963 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Hoàng Liên Sơn – administrative grouping of Lào Cai and Yên Bái provinces between 1975 and 1991.
• Hưng Hóa – existed from 1831 until 1903.
• Long Khánh – existed from 1956, became Đồng Nai province following the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Minh Hải – administrative grouping of Cà Mau and Bạc Liêu provinces between 1976 and 1996.
• Nghệ Tĩnh – administrative grouping of Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh provinces between 1976 and 1991.
• Nghĩa Bình – administrative grouping of Quảng Ngãi and Bình Định provinces between 1975 and 1989.
• Phú Bổn – in 1962 split from Pleiku province until 1976.
• Phú Khánh – administrative grouping of Phú Yên and Khánh Hòa provinces between 1975 and 1989.
• Phước Long – existed from 1956 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Phước Thành – existed from 1959 until 1965.
• Phước Tuy – existed from 1956 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Quảng Đức – existed from 1959 until 1976.
• Quảng Nam–Đà Nẵng/Quảng Đà – administrative grouping of Quảng Nam provinces and Đà Nẵng city, between 1975 and 1996.
• Quảng Tín – existed from 1962 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Sa Đéc – existed from 1900 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Sông Bé – administrative grouping of Bình Dương and Bình Phước provinces between 1976 and 1997.
• Tân An – existed from 1900 until 1956.
• Thừa Thiên Huế, the southernmost province of Vietnam's North Central Coast region, existed until 2025 of which the whole province is now direct-controlled as a municipality.
• Thuận Hải – administrative grouping of Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận provinces between 1975 and 1991.
• Tuyên Đức – existed from 1958 until 1976.
• Vĩnh Bình – existed from 1956 until the Vietnamese reunification of 1976.
• Vĩnh Phú – administrative grouping of Vĩnh Phúc and Phú Thọ provinces between 1968 and 1996.

See also

• ISO 3166-2:VN
• Plan for arrangement and merger of administrative units in Vietnam 2024–2025

Notes

1. The density is rounded like presented here in the official census data; the data matches exactly with the area data from the 2018 area statistics if rounded to nearest integer.