Pursuant to the constitution, there are three levels of administrative divisions in Vietnam: provinces, districts, and communes. Depending on the level of urbanisation, each level of administrative division comprises multiple types of administrative units:
Provincial level: autonomous municipality (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương, literally city subordinate to central authority) and province (tỉnh)
District level: municipal city (thành phố thuộc thành phố trực thuộc trung ương, literally city in a city subordinate to central authority),[1]urban district (quận), provincial city (thành phố thuộc tỉnh, literally city in a province), town (thị xã) and rural district (huyện)
Commune level: ward (phường) in major urban areas (under urban districts, cities or towns), township (thị trấn) for stand-alone townlets and commune (xã) for rural areas
Administrative subdivisions of Vietnam since 2016
A fourth, unofficial tier also exists, including hamlets (xóm, ấp), villages (làng, thôn, bản) and neighbourhoods (tổ dân phố, khu phố).
Municipalities are subdivided into district-level cities (municipal cities), urban districts, towns, and rural 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, and rural 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.[2]
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
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.[2]
Townships are known as thị 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.
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For various administrative, planning, and statistical purposes, the Vietnamese government often groups its cities and municipalities into 3 geographic regions and 8 administrative 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.
