Vietnam is divided into 34 first-level subdivisions, comprising 28 provinces (tỉnh) and six municipalities under the command of the central government (Vietnamese: thành phố trực thuộc trung ương).
Municipalities are the highest-ranked cities in Vietnam. Municipalities are centrally-controlled cities and have special status equal to that of the provinces.
On the first tier, Vietnam is divided into 28 provinces (Vietnamese: tỉnh) and 6 cities (centrally-run cities or municipalities; Vietnamese: thành phố trực thuộc trung ương, lit. 'city under direct central control', abbreviated TPTTTƯ or TPTTTW in Vietnamese context). Cities are the highest-ranked classification of subdivisions in Vietnam and are mechanically at the same level as provinces, but are more populous and developed in nature. The cities are largely divided into wards (phường) and communes (xã), with the former being urban areas while the latter being rural. Some Vietnamese cities also have special zones (đặc khu), which are basically island divisions.
The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta (Vietnamese: Đồng bằng sông Hồng) is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. Hồng (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". The delta has the smallest area but highest population and population density of all regions in Vietnam. The region, measuring some 15,000 square kilometres (6,000 sq mi) is well protected by a network of dikes. It is an agriculturally rich and densely populated area. Most of the land is devoted to rice cultivation.
Eight provinces, together with two municipalities (the capital Hanoi, and the port of Haiphong) form the delta. It had a population of almost 23 million in 2019.
The Vietnamese government often groups the various provinces and municipalities into three regions: Northern Vietnam, Central Vietnam, and Southern Vietnam. These regions can be further subdivided into eight subregions: Northeast Vietnam, Northwest Vietnam, the Red River Delta, the North Central Coast, the South Central Coast, the Central Highlands, Southeast Vietnam, and the Mekong River Delta. These regions are not always used, and alternative classifications are possible. Other classifications used can be: Northern, Central, Southern, and Mekong.
Yên Bái was a former province located in Northwest Vietnam. It shared borders with six provinces which are Hà Giang province, Lào Cai province, Lai Châu province, Sơn La province, Phú Thọ province, and Tuyên Quang province. The province covered an area of about 6,893 km (2,661 sq mi) and as of 2022 it had a population of 847,250 people.
Yên Bái's history is important under the French colony, particularly the subsequent "Yên Bái mutiny", an uprising of Vietnamese soldiers in the French colonial army on 10 February 1930 in collaboration with civilian supporters who were members of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (VNQDD, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party).
Bắc Giang was a former province in the Northeast region of Vietnam.
On June 12, 2025, Bắc Giang was incorporated into Bắc Ninh province.
Hải Dương was a former province in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. Its name derives from Sino-Vietnamese 海陽 "ocean sun", though the modern province is in fact landlocked. Located in the Northern Key Economic Region, Hai Duong Province has a dynamic economy with a focus on industrial manufacturing.
On June 12, 2025, Hải Dương was incorporated into Haiphong.
Thái Bình was a former coastal eastern province in the Red River Delta region of northern Vietnam. Its name is chữ Hán (太平) for "great peace." It is about 18 km from Nam Định, 70 km from Haiphong, and 110 km from Hanoi. As of April 2024, it had a population 1,888,184.
On June 12, 2025 the decision was made to subsume Thái Bình into Hưng Yên province.
Central Vietnam (Vietnamese: Trung Bộ or miền Trung), also known as Middle Vietnam or The Middle, formerly known as Trung Việt by the State of Vietnam, Trung Phần by the Republic of Vietnam, Trung Kỳ or Annam under French colonial rule, is one of the three geographical regions within Vietnam.
The name Trung Bộ was used by the emperor Bảo Đại when he established administrative level higher than Province in 1945, instead of the Trung Kỳ which recalled the French occupation. This name was officially used by government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and is popularly used today.
Southern Vietnam (Vietnamese: Nam Bộ) is one of the three geographical regions of Vietnam, the other two being Northern and Central Vietnam. It includes 2 administrative subregions, which in turn are divided into 19 First Tier units, of which 17 are provinces and 2 are municipalities.
Known as Nam Bộ today in Vietnamese, it was historically called Gia Định (1779–1832), Nam Kỳ (1832–1945, during Nguyễn's Lục tỉnh and French Cochinchina), Nam Bộ (1945 to the present, encompassing the Empire of Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam), and Nam Phần, sometimes Nam Việt (1948–1975, during the State of Vietnam and the Republic of Vietnam). Cochinchina is a historical exonym for this region during the colonial period, which referred to the entire domain of Đàng Trong in the feudal period. A more accurate term for the southern region is Lower Cochinchina, or Basse-Cochinchine in French.