Subdivisions of Vietnam
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| Administrative units of Vietnam |
|---|
| Province-level |
| Commune-level |
Vietnam is divided into 28 provinces and 6 cities. It is a unitary state.
Administrative units (from June 2025)
[edit]Pursuant to the constitution, there are two levels of administrative divisions in Vietnam: provinces and communes.[1][2] Depending on the level of urbanisation, each level of administrative division comprises multiple types of administrative units:
- Provincial level: autonomous municipality (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương, literally city subordinate to central authority) and province (tỉnh)
- Commune level: ward (phường) in major urban areas, commune (xã) for rural areas, and special administrative region (đặc khu) for isolated islands with large populations.
| Level | Type | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provincial level | Province (Tỉnh) |
Cities (Thành phố trực thuộc trung ương) | ||||
| Communal level | Ward (Phường) |
Commune (Xã) |
Special administrative region (Đặc khu) |
Ward (Phường) |
Commune (Xã) |
Special administrative region (Đặc khu) |
First level
[edit]On the first level, there are 6 cities/municipalities and 28 provinces as of 12 June 2025.[3]
Second level
[edit]Both municipalities and provinces are subdivided into wards, communes and special administrative regions. As of July 1, 2025, there are 3,321 second-level units with 687 wards, 2,621 communes and 13 special administrative regions.
Before 2025
[edit]Second level
[edit]Municipalities are subdivided into district-level cities (municipal cities), urban districts, towns, and rural districts. There is no official capital or seat of the municipality but local authority headquarters are usually located in one or more central urban districts.
Provinces are subdivided into district-level cities (provincial cities), towns, and rural districts. Currently, all provinces have their capitals in a district-level city, although some were previously towns.
As of 1 September 2024, there are 704 second-tier units.[4]
As urbanisation progresses, rural districts may be reclassified as towns, then to provincial cities (or towns and municipal cities in municipalities, and eventually to urban districts if they merge into the central urban area of a municipality). Note that the term
On 1 July 2025, as a result of a constitutional amendment and related legislation, all district-level administrative subdivisions will cease to exist.[5]
Third level
[edit]Urban districts are subdivided into wards, while cities and towns are subdivided into (urban) wards and (rural) communes. Rural districts are subdivided into (urban) townships (or townlets) and (rural) communes. Only rural districts have designated capitals, usually in a township.
As of 1 September 2024, there are 10,542 third-level units with 1,775 wards, 618 townships and 8,149 communes.[4]
Townships are known as thị trấn in Vietnamese, but less common type of townships are farm townships (thị trấn nông trường). These were formerly more common during the planned economy era.[6]
A fourth, unofficial tier also exists, with categories translated as hamlets (xóm, ấp), villages (làng, thôn, bản) and neighbourhoods (tổ dân phố, khu phố).[citation needed]
Geographic regions
[edit]
For various administrative, planning, and statistical purposes, the Vietnamese government often groups its cities and municipalities into 3 geographic regions and 8 geographic sub-regions:
| Geographic region | Geographic sub-region |
|---|---|
| Northern Vietnam (Bắc Bộ, Miền Bắc) | Northeast (Đông Bắc Bộ) |
| Northwest (Tây Bắc Bộ) | |
| Red River Delta (Đồng bằng sông Hồng) | |
| Central Vietnam (Trung Bộ, Miền Trung) | North Central Coast (Bắc Trung Bộ) |
| South Central Coast (Duyên hải Nam Trung Bộ) | |
| Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên) | |
| Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, Miền Nam) | Southeast (Đông Nam Bộ) |
| Mekong River Delta (Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long) |
Other subdivisions
[edit]Vietnam is also divided into electoral divisions and military regions.
Electoral divisions
[edit]For electoral purposes, each province or municipality is divided into electoral units (đơn vị bầu cử) which are further divided into voting zones (khu vực bỏ phiếu). The number of electoral divisions varies from election to election and depends on the population of that province or municipality.
Since the 2011 National Assembly election, there have been 183 electoral units and 89,960 voting zones.
Military regions
[edit]
Vietnam People's Army is organised into 8 military regions:
- High Command of Capital Hanoi (Bộ Tư lệnh Thủ đô Hà Nội) in Ha Noi
- 1st Military Region (Vietnam People's Army) (Quân khu 1) in Northeast
- 2nd Military Region (Vietnam People's Army) (Quân khu 2) in Northwest
- 3rd Military Region (Vietnam People's Army) (Quân khu 3) in Red River Delta
- 4th Military Region (Vietnam People's Army) (Quân khu 4) in North Central Coast
- 5th Military Region (Vietnam People's Army) (Quân khu 5) in South Central Coast and Central Highland
- 7th Military Region (Vietnam People's Army) (Quân khu 7) in Southeast
- 9th Military Region (Vietnam People's Army) (Quân khu 9) in Mekong Delta
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ ONLINE, TUOI TRE (2025-06-16). "Quốc hội chính thức thông qua sửa Hiến pháp, kết thúc hoạt động cấp huyện từ 1-7". TUOI TRE ONLINE (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2025-07-05.
- ^ "Quốc hội thông qua nghị quyết sửa Hiến pháp, chính thức bỏ cấp huyện". VNEXPRESS (in Vietnamese). 2025-06-16.
- ^ "Quốc hội thông qua Nghị quyết về việc sắp xếp đơn vị hành chính cấp tỉnh, từ ngày 12/6, cả nước còn 34 tỉnh, thành phố". National Assembly of Vietnam (in Vietnamese). 2025-06-12. Archived from the original on 2025-06-12. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
- ^ a b "TỔNG HỢP ĐƠN VỊ HÀNH CHÍNH (2015)". Archived from the original on 2015-11-13.
- ^ VnExpress. "Cấp huyện kết thúc hoạt động từ 1/7 - Báo VnExpress". vnexpress.net (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 2025-04-16. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
- ^ "Balk". Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
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