People's Council (Vietnam)

Vietnam is divided into 34 first-level subdivisions, comprising 28 provinces () and six municipalities under the command of the central government (). A proposal reported in April 2025 show the number of provinces and cities to be reduced to 34 through mergers.

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

The provinces and municipalities are divided into communes (''xã''), wards (''phường'') and special administrative regions (''đặc khu'') as the second-tier units.

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

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

By the end of 2024, the population of Vietnam was 101,343,800. The most populous top-level administrative unit is Hồ Chí Minh City, one of the six centrally governed cities, having 14,002,598 people living within its official boundary. The second most populous administrative unit is the recently expanded Hà Nội with 8,807,523 people. The least populous is Lai Châu, a mountainous province in the remote northwest with 512,601 people.

In land area, the largest province is Lâm Đồng with 24,233.09 km², the smallest is Hưng Yên (2,514.81 km²), located in the populous Red River Delta region.

The following is a table of Vietnam's provinces broken down by population and area. Municipalities are written in bold.

Regions

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:

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

References

External links

CityMayors.com article
*
Comprehensive map of Vietnam's provinces
''c.'' 1890

{{DEFAULTSORT:Provinces Of Vietnam

Subdivisions of Vietnam
Lists of subdivisions of Vietnam
Vietnam 1
Provinces, Vietnam