PROVINCES OF VIETNAM

Vietnam is divided into '59 provinces' (known in Vietnamese as ''tỉnh'', from the Chinese , shěng). There are also '5 centrally-controlled municipalities' existing at the same level as provinces (''thành phố trực thuộc trung ương'').
The provinces are further subdivided in districts or counties (huyện) and in communes (xã).

Contents

Government

People's Council

People's Committee

List and statistics

Regions

Historical provinces of Vietnam

External links

Government

Vietnamese provinces are, at least in theory, 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 who the conference does not "express trust" in 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 or eleven ordinary members.

List and statistics

The most populous top-level administrative unit in Vietnam is Hồ Chí Minh City, one of the five municipalities. It has over five million people living within its official boundaries. The second most populous administrative unit, and the most populous province, is Thanh Hóa, with over three and a half million people. The least populous is Lai Châu, a mountainous province in the remote northwest.
In terms of land area, the largest province is Nghệ An, which runs from the city of Vinh up the wide Song Ca valley. The smallest is Bắc Ninh, located in the populous Red River Delta.

Name	Capital	Population	Area
An Giang	Long Xuyên	2,099,400	3,406 km²
Bắc Giang	Bắc Giang	1,522,000	3,822 km²
Bắc Kạn	Bắc Kạn	283,000	4,795 km²
Bạc Liêu	Bạc Liêu	756,800	2,521 km²
Bắc Ninh	Bắc Ninh	957,700	804 km²
Ba Ria-Vung Tau	Vung Tau	839,000	1,975 km²
Ben Tre	Ben Tre	1,308,200	2,287 km²
Binh Dinh	Qui Nhon	1,481,000	6,076 km²
Binh Duong	Thu Dau Mot	768,100	2,696 km²
Binh Phuoc	Dong Xoai	708,100	6,856 km²
Binh Thuan	Phan Thiet	1,079,700	7,828 km²
Ca Mau	Ca Mau	1,158,000	5,192 km²
Can Tho (municipality)		1,112,000	1,390 km²
Cao Bang	Cao Bang	501,800	6,691 km²
Da Nang (municipality)		715,000	1,256 km²
Dak Lak	Buon Ma Thuot	1,667,000	13,062 km²
Dak Nong	Gia Nghia	363,000	6,514 km²
Dien Bien	Dien Bien Phu	440,300	8,544 km²
Dong Nai	Bien Hoa	2,067,200	5,895 km²
Dong Thap	Cao Lanh	1,592,600	3,238 km²
Gia Lai	PleiKu	1,048,000	15,496 km²
Ha Giang	Ha Giang	625,700	7,884 km²
Ha Nam	Phu Ly	800,400	849 km²
Ha Noi (municipality)		2,154,900	921 km²
Ha Tay	Ha Dong	2,432,000	2,192 km²
Ha Tinh	Ha Tinh	1,284,900	6,056 km²
Hai Duong	Hai Duong	1,670,800	1,648 km²
Hai Phong (municipality)		1,711,100	1,503 km²
Hau Giang	Vi Thanh	766,000	1,608 km²
Ho Chi Minh (municipality)		5,378,100	2,095 km²
Hoa Binh	Hoa Binh	774,100	4,663 km²
Hung Yen	Hung Yen	1,091,000	928 km²
Khanh Hoa	Nha Trang	1,066,300	5,197 km²
Kien Giang	Rach Gia	1,542,800	6,269 km²
Kon Tum	Kon Tum	330,700	9,615 km²
Lai Chau	Lai Chau	227,600	7,365 km²
Lam Dong	Da Lat	1,049,900	9,765 km²
Lang Son	Lang Son	715,300	8,305 km²
Lao Cai	Lao Cai	616,500	8,057 km²
Long An	Tan An	1,384,000	4,492 km²
Nam Dinh	Nam Dinh	1,916,400	1,637 km²
Nghe An	Vinh	2,913,600	16,487 km²
Ninh Binh	Ninh Binh	891,800	1,382 km²
Ninh Thuan	Phan Rang-Thap Cham	531,700	3,360 km²
Phu Tho	Viet Tri	1,288,400	3,519 km²
Phu Yen	Tuy Hoa	811,400	5,045 km²
Quang Binh	Dong Hoi	812,600	8,025 km²
Quang Nam	Tam Ky	1,402,700	10,408 km²
Quang Ngai	Quang Ngai	1,206,400	5,135 km²
Quang Ninh	Ha Long	1,029,900	5,899 km²
Quang Tri	Dong Ha	588,600	4,746 km²
Soc Trang	Soc Trang	1,213,400	3,223 km²
Son La	Son La	922,200	14,055 km²
Tay Ninh	Tay Ninh	989,800	4,028 km²
Thai Binh	Thai Binh	1,814,700	1,542 km²
Thai Nguyen	Thai Nguyen	1.046.000	3.563 km²
Thanh Hoa	Thanh Hoa	3,509,600	11,106 km²
Thua Thien-Hue	Hue	1,078,900	5,009 km²
Tien Giang	My Tho	1,635,700	2,367 km²
Tra Vinh	Tra Vinh	989,000	2,226 km²
Tuyen Quang	Tuyen Quang	692,500	5,868 km²
Vinh Long	Vinh Long	1,023,400	1,475 km²
Vinh Phuc	Vinh Yen	1,115,700	1,371 km²
Yen Bai	Yen Bai	699,900	6,883 km²

Regions

Often, the Vietnamese government groups the various provinces into eight regions: Northwest, Northeast, Red River Delta, North Central Coast, South Central Coast, Central Highlands, Southeast, and Mekong River Delta. These regions are not always used, and alternative classifications are possible.
'Northwest' (Tay Bac) contains four inland provinces in the west of Vietnam's northern part. Two of them are along Vietnam's border with Laos, and one borders China.
'Northeast' (Dong Bac) contains eleven provinces that lie to north of the highly populated Red River lowlands. Many of these provinces are mountainous.
'Red River Delta' (Dong Bang Song Hong) contains the small but populous provinces based around the Red River. There are nine provinces in this region. It also includes the national capital, Hanoi, and the municipality of Haiphong — both are independent of any provincial government.
'North Central Coast' (Bac Trung Bo) 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 Bo) 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, and so the inland areas are separate provinces. The region also includes the independent municipality of Danang.
'Central Highlands' (Tay Nguyen) contains the five inland provinces of south-central Vietnam. Much of this region is mountainous. While mostly inhabited by ethnic minorities, there are many Vietnamese living here.
'Southeast' (Dong Nam Bo) contains those parts of lowland southern Vietnam which are north of the Mekong delta. There are seven provinces, plus the municipality of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).
'Mekong River Delta' (Dong Bang Song Cuu Long) is Vietnam's southernmost region, mostly containing small but populous provinces in the delta of the Mekong. There are twelve provinces, plus the municipality of Can Tho.

Historical provinces of Vietnam

★ Ha Nam Ninh

★ Chau Doc

★ Long Ho

★ Nghe Tinh

★ Minh Hai

External links

★ Vietnam Tourism

★ Vietnam Travel Maps

★ CityMayors.com article

★ Decentralised Government in Vietnam (Cardozo Electronic Law Bulletin)

★ Vietnam Travel and City Guide