Looking back at the mergers of provinces and cities in Vietnam

Since 2008, Vietnam has maintained a total of 63 provincial-level administrative units, including 57 provinces and 6 centrally-run cities (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, Hai Phong and Hue City (Hue officially became a centrally-run city from January 1, 2025).

In 2008, the National Assembly passed a resolution to merge Ha Tay province, along with several communes of Hoa Binh and Me Linh district (Vinh Phuc) into Hanoi city. In the photo: Inter-commune roads in Dan Phuong district - the first district in Hanoi to meet new rural standards. (Photo: Dinh Hue/VNA)

According to the draft Project on administrative reorganization at all levels and building a 2-level local government model, after the reorganization, local governments will have 2 levels: provincial level and grassroots level. After the reorganization, the number of provincial-level administrative units will decrease by nearly 50%, and grassroots-level administrative units will decrease by about 70% compared to present.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said that after the Politburo meeting agreed on the policy of rearranging and reorganizing administrative units at all levels and building a model of organizing a two-level local government, the Government Party Committee sent a project to collect opinions from ministries, branches and localities, then synthesized and reported to the Central Executive Committee, expected in mid-April 2025.

After the Central Conference, there will be a national conference to implement the merger of provincial-level administrative units and the rearrangement of commune-level administrative units.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs a meeting of the Government Party Committee's Standing Committee on the project to rearrange administrative units. (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)

In fact, Vietnam has gone through many stages of reorganization, separation and merger of provincial administrative units.

Looking back at history, the organization of administrative units under feudal dynasties in Vietnam had many fluctuations in both the scale and names of administrative units.

Sub-central administrative units have different names and positions in the administrative system at all levels (such as prefecture, district, province, road, prefecture, governorate, dinh, province, district, ward, commune, village, commune, village, commune...) depending on each period.

Local administrative apparatus during the reign of King Minh Mang

According to National Archives Center I, the reorganization of the local administrative apparatus during the reign of King Minh Mang (Minh Mang) was a particularly important milestone that still retains its value today.

King Minh Mang was the second emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty, reigning from 1820 to the end of 1840. During his 20 years in power, King Minh Mang was considered an active, decisive emperor with many innovative reforms.

In 1831-1832, in order to unify administrative units throughout the country, King Minh Mang carried out an extremely large-scale reform throughout the country. The King believed that the country established towns as a front, and appointed officials to rule. This was a major policy of the court, but it had to be constantly reviewed and revised to suit the work. Therefore, regarding local administrative organization, the King abolished the two large towns, Bac Thanh and Gia Dinh, along with the Truc Le camps established under King Gia Long. The King changed all administrative units, the camps, and unified them into provinces, then divided the whole country geographically into three regions called Bac Ky, Trung Ky and Nam Ky.

Tonkin includes 13 provinces: Cao Bang, Lang Son, Hung Hoa, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Son Tay, Quang Yen, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Hanoi, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh.

The Central region includes 1 Thua Thien prefecture as the capital and 11 provinces: Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan.

Cochinchina includes 6 provinces also known as "Cochinchina six provinces": Gia Dinh (Phien An), Bien Hoa, An Giang, Vinh Long, Dinh Tuong and Ha Tien.

After redistributing the provinces, for ease of management, King Minh Mang merged 2 or 3 provinces into one district and established officials to oversee them.

The administrative reform of King Minh Mang in the early 1830s left many important marks, not only on the history of the Nguyen Dynasty. This is considered one of the most influential reforms in Vietnamese history.

In particular, the local administrative apparatus after being reorganized and reformed under King Minh Mang operated quite effectively. The organization of administrative units remained largely unchanged until the intervention of the French.

Separation and merger of provincial administrative units

According to the Department of Local Government - Ministry of Interior, after Vietnam gained independence in August 1945, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was born. According to the 1946 Constitution, the country was divided into three regions: North, Central, and South. During the period 1945-1946, our country had 65 provinces.

Hanoi construction map at scale 1/25,000 created by architect Pham Gia Hien on July 31, 1951. (Photo: Tuan Anh/VNA)

According to the report on the administrative boundary situation of our country in the Report No. 51/BCSĐ of the Party Committee of the Government dated August 24, 1995, before the reunification of the country on April 30, 1975, the North had 28 provinces, cities, and special zones, while the South had 44 provinces and cities. There were a total of 72 provincial-level administrative units in the country.

Since 1975, Vietnam has undergone many separations and mergers of provincial administrative units, at one point reducing the number of provinces and cities from 72 to 38.

In December 1975, the 5th National Assembly passed a resolution on abolishing the regional level and merging administrative units, merging a series of provinces in the North and North Central regions.

In 1976, the merger process continued to be carried out on a large scale from the North Central region to the provinces of the Southwest and the Central Highlands. After these mergers, the whole country had only 38 provincial-level administrative units.

Accordingly, Cao Bang province merged with Lang Son to form Cao Lang. Tuyen Quang merged with Ha Giang to form Ha Tuyen. Hoa Binh merged with Ha Tay to form Ha Son Binh. Nam Ha merged with Ninh Binh to form Ha Nam Ninh. The three provinces of Yen Bai, Lao Cai, and Nghia Lo merged to form Hoang Lien Son.

In addition, the North also includes the provinces of Bac Thai, Ha Bac, Hai Hung, Lai Chau, Quang Ninh, Son La, Thai Binh, Vinh Phu and two centrally-run cities, Hanoi and Hai Phong.

In the Central region, Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces merged into Nghe Tinh. Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue and Vinh Linh area merged into Binh Tri Thien province.

The two provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Tin and Da Nang City merged to form Quang Nam - Da Nang. Quang Ngai merged with Binh Dinh to form Nghia Binh. Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa merged to form Phu Khanh. The three provinces of Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Binh Tuy merged to form Thuan Hai.

Kon Tum and Gia Lai merged into Gia Lai - Kon Tum province. Thanh Hoa, Dak Lak, Lam Dong provinces remained the same as before.

In the South, in 1976, the National Assembly changed the name of Saigon-Gia Dinh city to Ho Chi Minh City - a centrally-governed city.

The three provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Long, and Phuoc Long merged into Song Be province. The provinces of Bien Hoa, Tan Phu, and Ba Ria-Long Khanh merged into Dong Nai province. Dong Thap province was established on the basis of merging Sa Dec and Kien Phong provinces.

Long Xuyen and Chau Doc provinces merged into An Giang. My Tho, Go Cong provinces and My Tho city merged into Tien Giang province.

Hau Giang province was established on the basis of merging Phong Dinh, Ba Xuyen and Chuong Thien provinces. Kien Giang province was re-established on the basis of the entire area of ​​Rach Gia province and three districts of Chau Thanh A, Ha Tien and Phu Quoc of the previous Long Chau Ha province.

Vinh Long and Tra Vinh provinces merged into Cuu Long. Bac Lieu and Ca Mau merged into Minh Hai. In addition, Kien Hoa province changed its name to Ben Tre. The South also has Tay Ninh and Long An provinces.

Thus, by 1976, the total number of provincial-level administrative units in Vietnam was 38, including 35 provinces and 3 central cities. The three cities were Hanoi, Hai Phong, and Ho Chi Minh City.

35 provinces including Bac Thai, Cao Lang, Ha Nam Ninh, Ha Bac, Ha Son Binh, Ha Tuyen, Hai Hung, Hoang Lien Son, Lai Chau, Quang Ninh, Son La, Thai Binh, Vinh Phu; Thanh Hoa, Nghe Tinh, Binh Tri Thien, Quang Nam-Da Nang, Nghia Binh, Phu Khanh, Thuan Hai, Gia Lai-Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Lam Dong, Song Be, Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Long An, Dong Thap, An Giang, Tien Giang, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, Ben Tre, Cuu Long, Minh Hai.

Administrative map of Vietnam in 1976 published in Saigon Giai Phong newspaper. (Photo: SGGP)

In 1978, the National Assembly approved the expansion of Hanoi's administrative boundaries, and merged five more districts into the city. Cao Lang Province was divided into two separate provinces, Cao Bang and Lang Son, bringing the total number of provinces and cities to 39.

In 1979, Vietnam had an additional provincial-level administrative unit, Vung Tau-Con Dao Special Zone, bringing the total number of administrative units to 40.

In 1989, the number of administrative units in the country increased to 44, including 40 provinces and 3 centrally-run cities, along with the Vung Tau-Con Dao Special Zone.

During this period, Binh Tri Thien province was divided into three separate provinces: Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue; Nghia Binh province was divided into two provinces: Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh; and Phu Khanh province was also divided into two provinces: Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa.

By 1991, the whole country had 53 provincial-level administrative units, at which time some previous provinces were re-divided, such as Ha Son Binh province was split into Ha Tay and Hoa Binh; Ha Nam Ninh province was split into Nam Ha and Ninh Binh; Nghe Tinh province was split into Nghe An and Ha Tinh; Ba Ria-Vung Tau province was established on the basis of three districts split from Dong Nai province and Vung Tau-Con Dao special zone.

In 1997, the number of provinces increased to 61 as some provinces continued to split.

Specifically, Bac Thai is divided into Bac Kan and Thai Nguyen; Ha Bac is divided into Bac Giang and Bac Ninh; Nam Ha is divided into Ha Nam and Nam Dinh; Hai Hung is divided into Hai Duong and Hung Yen.

In the same year, Quang Nam-Da Nang also divided into Quang Nam province and Da Nang city, and Song Be province was split into Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc.

By 2004, Vietnam continued to separate three provinces, bringing the total number of provincial-level administrative units to 64. Dak Lak, Can Tho and Lai Chau were divided into smaller administrative units.

In 2008, the National Assembly passed a resolution to merge Ha Tay province along with several communes of Hoa Binh and Me Linh district (Vinh Phuc) into Hanoi city.

Since 2008, Vietnam has maintained a total of 63 provincial-level administrative units, including 57 provinces and 6 centrally-run cities.

Current administrative map with 63 provinces and cities of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Currently, the arrangement of administrative units, associated with the arrangement of the apparatus to ensure leanness, compactness, strength, efficiency, effectiveness, and efficiency, is being focused on by the Party and State and is highly agreed upon.

The arrangement of administrative units aims to create development space; promote the potential, opportunities, and competitive advantages of localities in accordance with current development conditions; promote the autonomy, self-reliance, and self-strengthening of local authorities at all levels; especially to bring the government closer to the people, to solve people's work faster and more conveniently; and to bring more happiness and prosperity to the people./.

According to VNA

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nhin-lai-nhung-lan-sap-nhap-tinh-thanh-pho-cua-viet-nam-243122.htm