Regions of Vietnam in the context of Northeast (Vietnam)

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.

Northern Vietnam or Tonkin (Vietnamese: Bắc Bộ) is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng). It is near China. Unlike tropical Central and Southern Vietnam, Northern Vietnam has a subtropical climate.

It has a total area of about 109,942.9 km. The region's largest city, Hanoi, serves as the country's capital. Among the three geographical regions, the oldest is Northern Vietnam. Vietnamese culture originated in the Red River Delta and the Kinh Vietnamese eventually spread south into the Mekong Delta.

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.

Tây Bắc (literally "Northwest") is one of the regions of Vietnam, located in the mountainous northwestern part of the country. It consists of four provinces: Điện Biên, Lai Châu, Sơn La and Lào Cai. It has a population of 4.9 million (2022) and it is fully landlocked.

Bắc Trung Bộ (literally North Central Region, and often translated as North Central Coast) is one of the geographic regions of Vietnam. It consists of six provinces in northern part of Central Vietnam: Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Huế. The last two provinces were the northernmost provinces of State of Vietnam and South Vietnam until Reunification of Vietnam in 1976. In the Nguyễn dynasty, this area (except Thừa Thiên) was known as Hữu Trực Kỳ (the area located in the left of Thừa Thiên).

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In Vietnam, South Central Coast (Vietnamese: Duyên hải Nam Trung Bộ) and South Central Region (Vietnamese: Nam Trung Bộ) are two terms which can refer to the same region or two regions that do not correspond to each other. South Central Coast (sometimes called "South Central Region") consists of the independent municipality of Đà Nẵng and seven other provinces (picture 1), which means South Central Coast doesn't include Central Highlands (picture 2). Nevertheless, the term "South Central Region" can also be used to include Central Highlands as it is part of southern part of Central Vietnam.

The Central Highlands (Vietnamese: Cao nguyên Trung phần), South Central Highlands (Vietnamese: Cao nguyên Nam Trung Bộ), Western Highlands (Vietnamese: Tây Nguyên) or Midland Highlands (Vietnamese: Cao nguyên Trung bộ) was a former region located in the south central part of Vietnam. It did contain parts of the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Gia Lai, Quảng Ngãi, and Lâm Đồng. On June 12 2025 the region merged with South Central Coast

Đông Nam Bộ (literally "Southeast region") is a region in Southern Vietnam. This region includes one municipality, Ho Chi Minh City; and five provinces: Đồng Nai, Bình Dương, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province, Bình Phước and Tây Ninh. The two south central provinces Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận are sometimes seen as part of the Southeast region. This region is the most economically developed region in Vietnam. In 2006, this region contributed 148,000 billion VND (equal to $9.25 billion) out of 251,000 billion VND to the state budget. This region is also the most highly urbanized in the country with more than 50% people living in urban areas (while the equivalent figure for Vietnam is just 25%).