Provinces of Vietnam

Vietnam
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Administrative divisions
of Vietnam
Province-level
District-level
Commune-level

Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces (Vietnamese: tỉnh Chữ nôm:省) and 5 municipalities 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 district-level towns (thị xã), which are subdivided into commune-level towns (thị trấn) or communes (xã). The municipalities are divided into rural districts (huyện) and urban districts (quận), which are subdivided into wards (phường).

Governance

People's Council

Vietnamese provinces are controlled by a People's Council, elected by the inhabitants. The number of councilors 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 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 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 Chairman and a Vice-Chairman, and between nine and eleven ordinary members.

List and statistics

A clickable map of Vietnam exhibiting its 58 provinces and 5 centrally controlled municipalities.
Lai Châu Province Hà Giang Province Lào Cai Province Điện Biên Province China Laos Thailand Cambodia Sơn La Province Yên Bái Province Cao Bằng Province Bắc Kạn Province Tuyên Quang Province Lạng Sơn Province Quảng Ninh Province Thái Nguyên Province Phú Thọ Province Hai Phong Province Thái Bình Province Nam Định Province Bắc Giang Province Ha Noi Hòa Bình Province Ninh Bình Province Thanh Hóa Province Nghệ An Province Hà Tĩnh Province Quảng Bình Province Quảng Trị Province Da Nang Bình Định Province Quảng Nam Province Quảng Ngãi Province Kon Tum Province Gia Lai Province Thừa Thiên-Huế Province Đắk Lắk Province Phú Yên Province Khánh Hòa Province Đắk Nông Province Ninh Thuận Province Lâm Đồng Province Bình Thuận Province Bình Phước Province Tây Ninh Province Bình Dương Province Đồng Nai Province Ho Chi Minh City Long An Province An Giang Province Kiên Giang Province Cà Mau Province Tiền Giang Province Cần Thơ Province Vĩnh Long Province Bến Tre Province Trà Vinh Province Hậu Giang Province Sóc Trăng Province Bạc Liêu Province Vĩnh Phúc Province Ha Noi Bắc Ninh Province Hải Dương Province Hưng Yên Province Hà Nam Province Vĩnh Phúc Province Ha Noi Bắc Ninh Province Hải Dương Province Hưng Yên Province Hà Nam ProvinceA clickable map of Vietnam exhibiting its provinces.
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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 region.

The following is a table of Vietnam's provinces broken down by population and area, April 1, 2009.[2]

Province/City Capital/Administrative center Area (km²)
[2]		 Population
[2]		 Density (/km²)
[2]		 % Urban
[2]		 Region
Bắc Giang Province Bắc Giang 3,827.4 1,554,131 406.1 9.4 Northeast
Bắc Kạn Province Bắc Kạn 4,868.4 293,826 60.4 16.1 Northeast
Cao Bằng Province Cao Bằng 6,724.6 507,183 75.4 16.9 Northeast
Hà Giang Province Hà Giang 7,945.8 724,537 91.2 11.6 Northeast
Lạng Sơn Province Lạng Sơn 8,331.2 732,515 87.9 19.2 Northeast
Phú Thọ Province Việt Trì 3,528.4 1,316,389 373.1 15.8 Northeast
Quảng Ninh Province Hạ Long 6,099.0 1,144,988 187.7 51.9 Northeast
Thái Nguyên Province Thái Nguyên 3,546.6 1,123,116 316.7 25.6 Northeast
Tuyên Quang Province Tuyên Quang 5,870.4 724,821 123.5 13.0 Northeast
Lào Cai Province Lào Cai 6,383.9 614,595 96.3 21.0 Northeast
Yên Bái Province Yên Bái 6,899.5 740,397 107.3 18.8 Northeast
Điện Biên Province Điện Biên Phủ 9,562.5 490,306 51.3 15.0 Northwest
Hòa Bình Province Hòa Bình 4,684.2 785,217 167.6 15.0 Northwest
Lai Châu Province Lai Châu 9,112.3 370,502 40.7 14.2 Northwest
Sơn La Province Sơn La 14,174.4 1,076,055 75.9 13.8 Northwest
Bắc Ninh Province Bắc Ninh 823.1 1,024,472 1,244.7 23.5 Red River Delta
Hà Nam Province Phủ Lý 859.7 784,045 912.0 9.5 Red River Delta
Hải Dương Province Hải Dương 1,652.8 1,705,059 1,031.6 19.0 Red River Delta
Hưng Yên Province Hưng Yên 923.5 1,127,903 1,221.3 12.1 Red River Delta
Nam Định Province Nam Định 1,650.8 1,828,111 1,107.4 17.6 Red River Delta
Ninh Bình Province Ninh Bình 1,392.4 898,999 645.6 17.9 Red River Delta
Thái Bình Province Thái Bình 1,546.5 1,781,842 1,152.1 9.7 Red River Delta
Vĩnh Phúc Province Vĩnh Yên 1,373.2 999,786 728.1 22.4 Red River Delta
Hà Nội City Hoàn Kiếm District 3,119.0 7,331,909 2,068.6 41.0 Red River Delta
Hải Phòng City Hồng Bàng District 1,520.7 1,976,173 1,208.1 46.1 Red River Delta
Hà Tĩnh Province Hà Tĩnh 6,026.5 1,227,038 203.6 14.9 North Central Coast
Nghệ An Province Vinh 16,498.5 2,912,041 176.5 12.9 North Central Coast
Quảng Bình Province Đồng Hới 8,065.3 844,893 104.8 15.0 North Central Coast
Quảng Trị Province Đông Hà 4,760.1 598,324 125.7 27.4 North Central Coast
Thanh Hóa Province Thanh Hóa 11,136.3 3,400,595 305.4 10.4 North Central Coast
Thừa Thiên–Huế Province Huế 5,065.3 1,087,420 214.7 36.0 North Central Coast
Đắk Lắk Province Buôn Ma Thuột 13,139.2 1,733,624 131.9 24.0 Central Highlands
Đắk Nông Province Gia Nghĩa 6,516.9 489,382 75.1 14.7 Central Highlands
Gia Lai Province Pleiku 15,536.9 1,274,412 82.0 28.6 Central Highlands
Kon Tum Province Kon Tum 9,690.5 430,133 44.4 33.5 Central Highlands
Lâm Đồng Province Đà Lạt 9,776.1 1,187,574 121.5 37.8 Central Highlands
Bình Định Province Qui Nhơn 6,039.6 1,486,465 246.1 27.7 South Central Coast
Bình Thuận Province Phan Thiết 7,836.9 1,167,023 148.9 39.3 South Central Coast
Khánh Hòa Province Nha Trang 5,217.6 1,157,604 221.9 39.9 South Central Coast
Ninh Thuận Province Phan Rang–Tháp Chàm 3,363.1 564,993 168.0 36.1 South Central Coast
Phú Yên Province Tuy Hòa 5,060.6 862,231 170.4 21.8 South Central Coast
Quảng Nam Province Tam Kỳ 10,438.3 1,422,319 136.3 18.6 South Central Coast
Quảng Ngãi Province Quảng Ngãi 5,152.7 1,216,773 236.1 14.6 South Central Coast
Đà Nẵng City Hải Châu District 1,257.3 887,435 705.8 86.9 South Central Coast
Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Province Bà Rịa 1,989.6 996,682 500.9 49.9 Southeast
Bình Dương Province Thủ Dầu Một 2,696.2 1,481,550 549.5 29.9 Southeast
Bình Phước Province Đồng Xoài 6,883.4 873,598 126.9 16.5 Southeast
Đồng Nai Province Biên Hòa 5,903.9 2,486,154 421.1 33.2 Southeast
Tây Ninh Province Tây Ninh 4,035.9 1,066,513 264.3 15.6 Southeast
Hồ Chí Minh City District 1 2,095.1 8,262,864 3,418.9 83.3 Southeast
An Giang Province Long Xuyên 3,536.8 2,142,709 605.8 28.4 Mekong Delta
Bạc Liêu Province Bạc Liêu 2,584.1 856,518 331.5 26.1 Mekong Delta
Bến Tre Province Bến Tre 2,360.2 1,255,946 532.1 9.9 Mekong Delta
Cà Mau Province Cà Mau 5,331.7 1,206,938 226.4 20.4 Mekong Delta
Đồng Tháp Province Cao Lãnh 3,376.4 1,666,467 493.9 17.8 Mekong Delta
Hậu Giang Province Vị Thanh 1,601.1 757,300 473.0 19.6 Mekong Delta
Kiên Giang Province Rạch Giá 6,348.3 1,688,248 265.9 27.0 Mekong Delta
Long An Province Tân An 4,493.8 1,436,066 319.6 17.4 Mekong Delta
Sóc Trăng Province Sóc Trăng 3,312.3 1,292,853 390.3 19.4 Mekong Delta
Tiền Giang Province Mỹ Tho 2,484.2 1,672,271 673.2 13.7 Mekong Delta
Trà Vinh Province Trà Vinh 2,295.1 1,003,012 437.0 15.3 Mekong Delta
Vĩnh Long Province Vĩnh Long 1,479.1 1,024,707 692.8 15.3 Mekong Delta
Cần Thơ City Ninh Kiều District 1,401.6 1,188,435 847.9 65.9 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:

Northwest (Tây Bắc Bộ) contains four inland provinces in the west of Vietnam's northern part. Two of them border with Laos, and one borders China.

Northeast (Đông Bắc Bộ) 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 eight 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.

Southeast (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

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.chinhphu.vn/portal/page?_pageid=439,1090462&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&pers_id=1091147&item_id=33638381&p_details=1
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 General Statics Office of Vietnam

External links

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