Provinces of Vietnam

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Updates: 

FIPS 10-4 Change Notice 12, dated 2007-06-11, has FIPS codes for the three new provinces. The table has been updated accordingly. The standard also designates Can Tho and Da Nang as municipalities rather than provinces.

Graham Rhind found a page of the Vietnamese Ministry of Posts and Telematics that shows the postal code prefixes for the provinces as of 2002. I've made the assumption that no postal codes were changed when the latest three provinces split off.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-7 was published on 2005-09-13. It provides codes for the three new provinces created in 2003 (and reported here on 2003-11-27).

I have reexamined the provincial capitals. It appears that the capital of Binh Phuoc is Dong Xoai, not Dong Phu; the capital of Dong Thap is Cao Lanh, not Sa Dec; of Ha Nam is Phu Ly, not Ha Nam; of Lai Chau is Dien Bien Phu, not Lai Chau (until its partition, as described in the following paragraph); of Phu Tho is Viet Tri, not Phu Tho; of Quang Ninh is Ha Long, not Hong Gai; of Thai Nguyen is Thai Nguyen, not Song Cong. I'm not entirely sure whether these capitals moved, or my earlier list was mistaken. One exception is Lai Chau province, whose capital definitely moved. Another exception is Ha Long. I received a message from Dam Son, saying that Ha Long was formed by merging Hong Gai and Bai Chay.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. The only change to Vietnamese provinces is a spelling correction, changing "thanh po" to "thanh pho" in the formal name of Ho Chi Minh.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-1 was published on 2000-06-21. The original ISO 3166-2 standard had assigned the same code, 24, to both Quang Binh and Quang Ninh provinces. The update changes the code for Quang Ninh to 13 to avoid duplication.

On 1996-12-06, the Vietnamese National Assembly voted to create fifteen new provinces and one municipality by splitting eight existing provinces. The United Nations Development Program had a site with maps of each of the provinces of Vietnam as of then. They have been removed, but you can still find them by going to the Internet Archive  and entering "http://www.undp.org.vn/dmu/reference/en/provinces.htm" in the "Wayback Machine" box. It also has maps of seven "economic regions" of the country and the provinces in each one.

Country overview: 

Vietnam was part of French Indo-China in 1900. It attained partial independence in 1949. In 1954, the French, tired of fighting the Communists in the north, but unwilling to abandon the country to them, agreed to partition it along the 17th parallel. The parts were North Vietnam (capital Hanoi) and South Vietnam (Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City). Conflict continued until the two countries were formally united on 1976-07-02.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Vietnam
2. Dutch: Vietnam, Socialistische Republiek Vietnam (formal)
3. English: Vietnam, Viet Nam (variant), Socialist Republic of Vietnam (formal)
4. Finnish: Vietnam
5. French: Viêt Nam m
6. German: Vietnam n
7. Icelandic: Víetnam
8. Italian: Vietnam m
9. Norwegian: Den sosialistiske republikk Vietnam (formal) (Bokmål), Den sosialistiske republikken Vietnam (formal) (Nynorsk), Vietnam
10. Portuguese: Vietname, Vietnam, Vietnã m (Brazil), República f Socialista do Vietname m (formal)
11. Spanish: Vietnam m, República f Socialista de Viet Nam m (formal)
12. Swedish: Vietnam
13. Turkish: Vietnam, Vietnam Sosyalist Cumhuriyeti (formal)
14. Vietnamese: Công Hòa Xã Hôi Chu Nghia Viêt Nam (formal)

Origin of name: 

Vietnamese viet: foreigner, nam: south, applied by Chinese to foreigners from the south

Primary subdivisions: 

Vietnam is divided into tinh (provinces) and thu do (formerly called thanh pho; municipalities).

Note: For the seven divisions which were created or altered in 2003, the population, area, and 1965 provinces are probably a little off. This applies to Can Tho city and Dac Lac, Dac Nong, Dien Bien, Hau Giang, Lai Chau, and Lao Cai provinces. To restore the table above to its appearance before the changes of 2003, delete the rows for Dac Nong, Dien Bien, and Hau Giang; then, change the data for the following three provinces as shown. Can Tho had HASC code VN.CT, 1999 population 1,811,100, area 2,951 km.² (1,139 mi.²). Dac Lac had HASC code VN.DL, 1999 population 1,776,331, area 19,800 km.² (7,644 mi.²). Lai Chau had HASC code VN.LC, 1999 population 588,666, area 17,131 km.² (6,614 mi.²), and Dien Bien Phu was its capital.

Postal code: 

Vietnam uses six-digit postal codes, where the first two digits determine a province or city.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Vietnam page.

The General Statistics Office of Vietnam  shows the country divided into eight regions. They apparently have no administrative purpose, just a statistical one. This is the list of regions.

The same page shows the number of lower-level subdivisions: cities under provinces, urban districts, towns, rural districts, precincts, towns under districts, and communes. According to it, as of 2004-12-31, Vietnam was divided at the secondary level into 25 cities under provinces, 42 urban districts, 536 rural districts, and 59 towns; at the tertiary level into 1,181 precincts, 583 towns under districts, and 9,012 communes. (The source doesn't make it clear, so the tertiary level may not be exhaustive, or may have additional structure not shown.)

Territorial extent: 

1. Vietnam claims the Paracel and Spratly islands in the South China Sea.
2. Ba Ria-Vung Tau includes the Con Dao islands.
3. Kien Giang includes the islands Phu Quoc, Rai, Tre, and others in the Gulf of Siam.

Origins of names: 

1. Haiphong: Vietnamese hai: sea, phong: room
2. Hanoi: Vietnamese ha: river, noi: interior
3. Ho Chi Minh City: named for North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh (pseudonym of Nguyen Ai Quoc, 1890-1969)

Change history: 

1. By 1900 the French had established a protectorate (tantamount to a colony) over Indo-China, known as the Indochinese Union or French Indo-China. It was divided into the territories of Anam (French name Annam; capital Hué), Cambodia (Cambodge; Phnom Penh), Cochin China (Cochinchine; Saigon), Laos (Laos; Louang Prabang), and Tongking (Tonkin; Hanoi). Anam, Cochin China, and Tongking were essentially equivalent to present-day Vietnam. The Vietnamese names for them were Trung Bo, Nam Bo, and Bac Bo respectively, meaning Center, South, and North. They were subdivided into provinces.
2. 1954-07-21: Cease-fire agreement signed between France and the Viet Minh rebels, partitioning Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam at the parallel 17° North.
3. 1954-12-29: North and South Vietnam became independent.
4. 1959: South Vietnam consisted of 22 provinces of Cochin China and most of 13 provinces of Annam; North Vietnam consisted of 4 provinces of Annam and 29 provinces of Tonkin (?).
5. 1976-07-02: North and South Vietnam merged to form Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Name of Saigon changed to Ho Chi Minh City.
6. ~1978: Cao Lang province split into Cao Bang and Lang Son.
7. 1979-05-30: Vung Tau-Con Dao dac khu (special zone) formed by taking the area around Vung Tau (Cape Saint Jacques) from Dong Nai, and the Con Dao islands from Hau Giang. Before this change, the FIPS codes of Dong Nai and Hau Giang were VM08 and VM18, respectively. Name of Gia Lai-Cong Tum province changed to Gia Lai-Kon Tum. At this time, the provinces were as follows:

1. ~1990: Binh Tri Thien province split into Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien. Nghia Binh province split into Binh Dinh and Quang Ngai. Phu Khanh province split into Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen.
2. ~1992: Ha Nam Ninh, Ha Son Binh, and part of Hanoi provinces reorganized to form Ha Tay, Hoa Binh, Nam Ha, and Ninh Binh. Ha Tuyen province split into Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang. Hoang Lien Son province split into Lao Cai and Yen Bai. Nghe Tinh province split into Ha Tinh and Nghe An. Gia Lai-Kon Tum province split into Gia Lai and Kon Tum. Part of Dong Nai province annexed to Vung Tau-Con Dao special zone to form Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. Thuan Hai province split into Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan. Hau Giang province split into Can Tho and Soc Trang. Cuu Long province split into Tra Vinh and Vinh Long. The result was the division shown below.

Regions of Vietnam:

1. 1993: Capital of Lai Chau province moved from Lai Chau to Dien Bien Phu.
2. 1994: Capital of Quang Ninh province, formerly named Hong Gai, merged with Bai Chay and took the name Ha Long.
3. 1996-11-06: Bac Thai province split into Bac Can and Thai Nguyen; Ha Bac province split into Bac Giang and Bac Ninh; Hai Hung province split into Hai Duong and Hung Yen; Minh Hai province split into Bac Lieu and Ca Mau; Nam Ha province split into Ha Nam and Nam Dinh; Quang Nam-Da Nang province split into Quang Nam province and Da Nang municipality; Song Be province split into Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc; Vinh Phu province split into Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc.
4. ~2000: Regions modified. North Mountain and Midlands region split into North East and North West regions, where North West consisted of Hoa Binh, Lai Chau, and Son La provinces; North Eastern South region annexed Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces from South Central Coast region and Lam Dong province from Central Highlands region.
5. ~2002: Bac Ninh and Vinh Phuc provinces moved from North East region to Red River Delta region; Lam Dong province moved from North Eastern South region (back) to Central Highlands region; name of North Eastern South region changed to South East.
6. 2003-11-25: Can Tho province (former FIPS code VM48) split into Can Tho municipality and Hau Giang province; Dac Nong province split from Dac Lac (formerly VM07); Dien Bien province split from Lai Chau (formerly VM22); Than Uyen district transferred from Lao Cai province (formerly VM56) to Lai Chau province.