| Administrative units of Vietnam |
|---|
| Province-level |
| Commune-level |
Vietnam is divided into 28provinces and 6cities. It is aunitary state.
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:
| Level | Type | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provincial level | Province (Tỉnh) | Cities (Thành phốtrực thuộc trung ương) | ||||
| Communal level | Ward (Phường) | Commune (Xã) | Special zone (Đặc khu) | Ward (Phường) | Commune (Xã) | Special zone (Đặc khu) |
On the first level, there are 6 cities/municipalities and 28 provinces as of 12 June 2025.[3]
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.
Municipalities are subdivided into district-level cities (municipal cities),urban districts,towns, andrural 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, andrural 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 aconstitutional amendment and related legislation, all district-level administrative subdivisions ceased to exist.[5]
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 asthị 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]
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) |
Vietnam is also divided intoelectoral divisions and military regions.
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.
Vietnam People's Army is organised into 8 military regions:
