Provinces of Vietnam
Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces (Vietnamese: tỉnh) and five centrally governed cities existing at the same level as provinces (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương).
The provinces are divided into districts (huyện), provincial cities (thành phố trực thuộc tỉnh), and towns (thị xã), which are subdivided into towns (thị trấn) or communes (xã).
The centrally controlled cities are divided into rural districts (huyện) and urban districts (quận), which are subdivided into wards (phường).
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Government
Vietnamese provinces are controlled by a People's Council, elected by the inhabitants. The People's Council appoints a People's Committee, which acts as the executive arm of the provincial government. This arrangement is a somewhat simplified version of the situation in Vietnam's national government. Provincial governments are expected to be subordinate to the central government.
People's Council
Each People's Council has a Standing Committee made up of the Chairperson and his/her deputies, who are elected from among the representatives in the People's Council. The Standing Committee has a number of functions, including representing the People's Council when it is not in session. There are also a number of other committees established to deal with specific issues. All provinces have an Economic and Budgetary Committee, a Social and Cultural Committee, and a Legal Committee. If a province has many inhabitants who are not ethnically Vietnamese, there will probably be a Committee for Ethnic Affairs as well.
Citizens are eligible to vote in People's Council elections from when they are aged eighteen, but cannot stand for election until they are aged twenty-one. To become a candidate, one can either nominate oneself or be selected by the Fatherland Front. Nominated candidates are then voted on at "voters' conferences", which are organized by the Fatherland Front. Attendees determine, sometimes by secret balot and sometimes by a show of hands, whether candidates meet the criteria set down by the People's Council. Candidates in whom the conference does not "express trust" cannot stand for election.
The number of candidates elected per voting district is between one and three. There must be more candidates standing in each district than there are seats to be filled.
People's Committee
The People's Committee is, as mentioned previously, the executive arm of a provincial government, and is responsible for formulating and implementing policy. It may be thought of as the equivalent of a cabinet. The People's Committee will have a President and a Vice-President, and between nine and eleven ordinary members.
List and statistics
According to the census results of April 1, 2009, the population of Vietnam is 85,789,573 people. The most populous top-level administrative unit in Vietnam is Hồ Chí Minh City, one of the five centrally governed cities. It has 7,123,340 people living within its official boundaries. The second most populous administrative unit is the recently-expanded Hà Nội with 6,448,837 people. Prior to the expansion of the capital city, this rank belonged to Thanh Hóa with 3,400,239 people. The least populous is Bắc Kạn, a mountainous province in the remote northeast with 294,660 people.[1]
In terms of 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.
The following is a table of Vietnam's provinces broken down by population and area.
| Name | Capital | Population (1 April 2009) |
Area (1 Jan 2006[2]) |
Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bắc Ninh | Bắc Ninh | 1,024,151 | 823.1 km² | Red River Delta |
| Hà Nam | Phủ Lý | 785,057 | 859.7 km² | Red River Delta |
| Hải Dương | Hải Dương | 1,703,492 | 1,652.8 km² | Red River Delta |
| Hưng Yên | Hưng Yên | 1,128,702 | 923.5 km² | Red River Delta |
| Nam Định | Nam Định | 1,825,771 | 1,650.8 km² | Red River Delta |
| Ninh Bình | Ninh Bình | 898,459 | 1,392.4 km² | Red River Delta |
| Thái Bình | Thái Bình | 1,780,954 | 1,546.5 km² | Red River Delta |
| Vĩnh Phúc | Vĩnh Yên | 1,000,838 | 1,373.2 km² | Red River Delta |
| Hà Nội | Hà Nội | 6,448,837 | 3,119 km² | Red River Delta |
| Hải Phòng | Hải Phòng | 1,807,302 | 1,520.7 km² | Red River Delta |
| Hà Tĩnh | Hà Tĩnh | 1,227,554 | 6,026.5 km² | North Central Coast |
| Nghệ An | Vinh | 2,913,055 | 16,498.5 km² | North Central Coast |
| Quảng Bình | Đồng Hới | 846,924 | 8,065.3 km² | North Central Coast |
| Quảng Trị | Đông Hà | 597,985 | 4,760.1 km² | North Central Coast |
| Thanh Hoá | Thanh Hoá | 3,400,239 | 11,136.3 km² | North Central Coast |
| Thừa Thiên-Huế | Huế | 1,087,579 | 5,065.3 km² | North Central Coast |
| Bắc Giang | Bắc Giang | 1,555,720 | 3,827.4 km² | Northeastern |
| Bắc Kạn | Bắc Kạn | 294,660 | 4,868.4 km² | Northeastern |
| Cao Bằng | Cao Bằng | 510,884 | 6,724.6 km² | Northeastern |
| Hà Giang | Hà Giang | 724,353 | 7,945.8 km² | Northeastern |
| Lạng Sơn | Lạng Sơn | 731,887 | 8,331.2 km² | Northeastern |
| Lào Cai | Lào Cai | 613,075 | 6,383.9 km² | Northeastern |
| Phú Thọ | Việt Trì | 1,313,926 | 3,528.4 km² | Northeastern |
| Quảng Ninh | Hạ Long | 1,144,381 | 6,099.0 km² | Northeastern |
| Thái Nguyên | Thái Nguyên | 1,124,786 | 3.546.6 km² | Northeastern |
| Tuyên Quang | Tuyên Quang | 725,467 | 5,870.4 km² | Northeastern |
| Yên Bái | Yên Bái | 740,905 | 6,899.5 km² | Northeastern |
| Điện Biên | Điện Biên | 491046 | 9,562.5 km² | Northwestern |
| Hòa Bình | Hòa Bình | 786,964 | 4,684.2 km² | Northwestern |
| Lai Châu | Lai Châu | 370,135 | 9,112.3 km² | Northwestern |
| Sơn La | Sơn La | 1,080,641 | 14,174.4 km² | Northwestern |
| Đắk Lắk | Buôn Ma Thuột | 1,728,380 | 13,139.2 km² | Central Highlands |
| Đắk Nông | Gia Nghĩa | 489,442 | 6,516.9 km² | Central Highlands |
| Gia Lai | Pleiku | 1,272,792 | 15,536.9 km² | Central Highlands |
| Kontum | Kon Tum | 430,037 | 9,690.5 km² | Central Highlands |
| Lâm Đồng | Đà Lạt | 1,186,786 | 9,776.1 km² | Central Highlands |
| Bình Định | Qui Nhơn | 1,485,943 | 6,039.6 km² | South Central Coast |
| Khánh Hòa | Nha Trang | 1,156,903 | 5,217.6 km² | South Central Coast |
| Phú Yên | Tuy Hòa | 861,903 | 5,060.6 km² | South Central Coast |
| Quảng Nam | Tam Kỳ | 1,419,503 | 10,438.3 km² | South Central Coast |
| Quảng Ngãi | Quảng Ngãi | 1,217,159 | 5,152.7 km² | South Central Coast |
| Đà Nẵng | Đà Nẵng | 887,069 | 1,257.3 km² | South Central Coast |
| Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu | Vũng Tàu | 994,837 | 1,989.6 km² | Southeastern |
| Bình Dương | Thủ Dầu Một | 1,482,636 | 2,696.2 km² | Southeastern |
| Bình Phước | Đồng Xoài | 874,961 | 6,883.4 km² | Southeastern |
| Bình Thuận | Phan Thiết | 1,169,450 | 7,836.9 km² | Southeastern |
| Đồng Nai | Biên Hòa | 2,483,211 | 5,903.9 km² | Southeastern |
| Ninh Thuận | Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm | 564,129 | 3,363.1 km² | Southeastern |
| Tây Ninh | Tây Ninh | 1,066,402 | 4,035.9 km² | Southeastern |
| Hồ Chí Minh | Hồ Chí Minh City | 7,123,340 | 2,095.1 km² | Southeastern |
| An Giang | Long Xuyên | 2,144,772 | 3,536.8 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Bạc Liêu | Bạc Liêu | 856,250 | 2,584.1 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Bến Tre | Bến Tre | 1,254,589 | 2,360.2 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Cà Mau | Cà Mau | 1,205,108 | 5,331.7 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Đồng Tháp | Cao Lãnh | 1,665,420 | 3,376.4 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Hậu Giang | Vị Thanh | 756,625 | 1,601.1 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Kiên Giang | Rạch Giá | 1,683,149 | 6,348.3 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Long An | Tân An | 1,436,914 | 4,493.8 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Sóc Trăng | Sóc Trăng | 1,289,441 | 3,312.3 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Tiền Giang | Mỹ Tho | 1,670,216 | 2,484.2 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Trà Vinh | Trà Vinh | 1,000,933 | 2,295.1 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Vĩnh Long | Vĩnh Long | 1,028,365 | 1,479.1 km² | Mekong Delta |
| Cần Thơ | Cần Thơ | 1,187,089 | 1,401.6 km² | Mekong Delta |
See also List of postal codes in Vietnam
Regions
The Vietnamese government often groups the various provinces into eight regions. These regions are not always used, and alternative classifications are possible. The regions include:
Northwestern (Tây Bắc) contains four inland provinces in the west of Vietnam's northern part. Two of them border with Laos, and one borders China.
Northeastern (Đông Bắc) contains eleven provinces (many of which are mountainous) that lie to north of the highly populated Red River lowlands.
Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng) contains nine provinces that are small but populous – based around the Red River, including the national capital Hanoi, and the municipality of Hải Phòng (both of which are independent of any provincial government).
North Central Coast (Bắc Trung Bộ) contains six provinces in the northern half of Vietnam's narrow central part. All provinces in this region stretch from the coast in the east to Laos in the west.
South Central Coast (Nam Trung Bộ) contains five coastal provinces in the southern half of Vietnam's central part. Vietnam is wider at this point than in the North Central Coast region, so the inland areas are separate provinces. The region also includes the independent municipality of Đà Nẵng.
Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên) contains the five inland provinces (much of whose terrain is mountainous) of south-central Vietnam, mostly inhabited by ethnic minorities, although many Viet people live there as well.
Southeastern (Đông Nam Bộ) contains those parts of lowland southern Vietnam which are north of the Mekong Delta. There are seven provinces, plus the independent municipality of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).
Mekong Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Cửu Long) is Vietnam's southernmost region, and contains twelve mostly small but populous provinces in the delta of the Mekong, plus the independent municipality of Cần Thơ. The other name of this region is Southwestern (Tây Nam Bộ).
Historical provinces of Vietnam
- Ha Nam Ninh - then divided into 3 provinces: Hà Nam, Nam Định and Ninh Bình
- Ha Son Binh (divided into Hà Tây and Hòa Bình - then on August 1, 2008, Hà Tây and 4 communities of Hòa Bình became a part of expanded capital city Hà Nội)
- Châu Đốc
- Long Ho
- Nghe Tinh (divided into Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh), most noted for being the site of the Nghe Tinh Soviet Republic declared September 1930 and lasted into 1931, a short-lived bastion against colonial French rule.
- Minh Hai (divided into Cà Mau and Bạc Liêu)
- Vinh Phu (divided into Vĩnh Phúc and Phú Thọ
- Hà Tây - annexed into Hà Nội since August 1, 2008.
External links
- Vietnam map
- CityMayors.com article
- Decentralised Government in Vietnam (Cardozo Electronic Law Bulletin)
- Gerrymandering – Vietnamese Style – The Political Motivations behind the Creation of New Provinces in Vietnam
See also
- ISO 3166-2:VN
References
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