County-level town (Vietnam)

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The county-level town (Vietnamese: Thị xã) is a kind of second level administrative units in Vietnam, under the governed by the province or the central-controlled municipality. County-level towns are officially categorized as Class III or Class IV of urban regions by Vietnam government. In July 2010, Vietnam has 45 county-level towns. A county-level town may be the administrative center of a province, but can not be a district administrative center of a central-controlled municipality.

In Vietnam, there are other kinds of county-level urban administrative units: urban districts (Vietnamese: quận) and provincial cities. The urban districts is within urban and can only consist of wards, but provincial cities and county-level towns can consist with the wards (within urban) and rural communes (within suburban). County-level towns is similar with provincial cities, but county-level town is smaller than provincial cities in area and population. Moreover central-controlled municipality can include county-level town, but can not include provincial cities.

The type of the county-level town is categorized as urban and its residents is classified as urban population, although there may still be a part of residents living in agriculture. Main economical activities in county-level town are such as industry , services and business.

Regularly, a commune-level town (Vietnamese: thị trấn) can be upgraded to a county-level town (Vietnamese: thị xã), and county-level towns can develop into provincial cities.

But the county-level town can also be downgraded to a county capitals, especially when there is a merger of the provinces. That are the cases of the An Lộc (provincial capital of former Bình Long Province), Sông Cầu (formerly the provincial capital of Phú Yên Province) ...

Some county-level towns were downgraded into commune-level towns for some time and then be re-established, as Nghĩa Lộ, Bắc Cạn, Đồ Sơn(from 2007 became urban district of Đồ Sơn), Phúc Yên, Hà Tiên, Vị Thanh, Gia Nghĩa.

When a county-level town is downgraded, the urban become a commune-level town, and the suburban is merged into other counties.

Some county-level towns have became commune-level towns and not re-established, so far as: Đô Lương, Tiên Yên, Ninh Giang, Cát Bà, Vĩnh An of Đồng Nai Province.

There is a rare case: Phan Rang as county-level town is divided into two commune-level towns, Phan Rang and Tháp Chàm in 1977. Each commune-level town belonged to a county (Ninh Hải and An Sơn), and in 1981 the two commune-level towns was merged and re-established as county-level town named Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm (now as provincial city).

Kiến An, a former county-level town, located in the central-controlled municipality in Hải Phòng from 1962 to 1980, later downgraded into a commune-level town and was recovered between from 1988 to 1994 and is now an urban district of Hải Phòng.

Đồ Sơn ever (after 1994) was the only county-level town within a central-controlled municipality ( Hải Phòng ), until September 12, 2007 it become the new urban district of Hải Phòng.

Sơn Tây is a county-level town governed under Hanoi in the period 1978 to 1991, then merged into Hà Tây Province. August 2007 this county-level town was upgraded into provincial city. In 2008 Hà Tây Province was merged into Hanoi, Son Tay was moved back into county-level town.

List of county-level towns

No. Name of county-level town Province/Centrall-controlled municipality Urban level Year became county-level town Population (person) Area (km2)
1 An Khê Gia Lai Province 4 2003 63.118 199,12
2 Ayun Pa Gia Lai Province 4 2007 35.058 287
3 Bà Rịa Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province 3 1994 80.000 90,57
4 Bạc Liêu Bạc Liêu Province 3 trước 1975 134.714 171,8
5 Bắc Kạn Bắc Kạn Province 4 1990 29.277 131,95
6 Bỉm Sơn Thanh Hóa Province 4 1981 56.893 66,88
7 Bình Long Bình Phước Province 3 2009 60.233 126,29
8 Buôn Hồ Đắk Lắk Province 4 2008 101.554 282,06
9 Cam Ranh Khánh Hòa Province 3 2000 125.311 316
10 Cao Bằng Cao Bằng Province 4 trước 1975 52.436 44,04
11 Cẩm Phả Quảng Ninh Province 3 1956 160.745 486,23
12 Châu Đốc An Giang Province 3 1785 112.155 99,95
13 Cửa Lò Nghệ An Province 3 1994 55.000 28
14 Chí Linh Hải Dương Province 4 2010 164.837 281,09
15 Đồng Xoài Bình Phước Province 3 1999 71.200 169,6
16 Gia Nghĩa Đắk Nông Province 4 2005 35.559 86,64
17 Gò Công Tiền Giang Province 4 1987 97.709 102
18 Hà Giang Hà Giang Province 3 1891 40.000 168,7
19 Hà Tiên Kiên Giang Province 4 1998 39.957 88,5
20 Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh Province 4 1992 36.805 58,55
21 Hồng Ngự Đồng Tháp Province 4 2009 74.569 122,16
22 Hương Thủy Thừa Thiên-Huế Province 4 2010 96.525 458,17
23 La Gi Bình Thuận Province 4 2005 112.558 182,82
24 Lai Châu Lai Châu Province 4 2004 18.089 70,8
25 Long Khánh Đồng Nai Province 4 2003 181.242 195
26 Mường Lay Điện Biên Province 4 1971 14.379 114,03
27 Ngã Bảy Hậu Giang Province 4 2005 61.024 78,9
28 Nghĩa Lộ Yên Bái Province 4 1995 26.000 29,66
29 Phú Thọ Phú Thọ Province 4 1903 62.000 64,5
30 Phúc Yên Vĩnh Phúc Province 4 2003 104.092 120,29
31 Phước Long Bình Phước Province 3 2009 50.019 118,83
32 Quảng Trị Quảng Trị Province 4 1989 22.760 44,03
33 Sa Đéc Đồng Tháp Province 3 1785 103.646 57,86
34 Sầm Sơn Thanh Hóa Province 4 1981 51.417 18
35 Sông Cầu Phú Yên Province 4 2009 101.521 489,28
36 Sông Công Thái Nguyên Province 4 1985 44.444 83,64
37 Sơn Tây Hà Nội 3 1903 181.831 113,5
38 Tam Điệp Ninh Bình Province 4 1982 53.649 110,9
39 Tân Châu An Giang Province 4 2009 184.129 175,7
40 Tây Ninh Tây Ninh Province 4 trước 1975 130.008 140
41 Thái Hòa Nghệ An Province 4 2007 66.000 135
42 Thủ Dầu Một Bình Dương Province 3 1954 211.068 118,8
43 Từ Sơn Bắc Ninh Province 4 2008 143.843 61,33
44 Uông Bí Quảng Ninh Province 3 1961 97.975 253,1
45 Vị Thanh Hậu Giang Province 4 1999 72.328 118,65

References

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