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.

List of regions and subregions

Regions of Vietnam
Region Subregion Provinces Area (km2) Population (2015) Density (people per km2) Notes
Northern Vietnam (Bắc Bộ, Miền Bắc) Northeast (Đông Bắc Bộ) 50,684.10 8,568,200 169.05 It contains most of the mountainous provinces that lie to north of the Red River lowlands.
Northwest (Tây Bắc Bộ) 44,301.10 4,446,800 100.37 It contains inland provinces in the west of Vietnam's northern part. Two provinces border Laos, and three border China.
Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng) 14,957.70 19,714,300 1,318.00 It contains small but populous provinces in the Thái Bình river system and Red River system. The Red River Delta has the smallest area but highest population and population density of all regions.
Central Vietnam (Trung Bộ, Miền Trung) North Central Coast (Bắc Trung Bộ) 51,455.60 10,472,900 203.53 It contains the coastal provinces in the northern half of Vietnam's narrow central part. They all stretch from the coast in the east to Laos in the west.
South Central Coast (Duyên hải Nam Trung Bộ) 44,376.80 9,185,000 206.98 It contains the coastal provinces in the southern half of Vietnam's central part.
Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên) 54,641.00 5,607,900 102.63 It contains mountainous inland provinces of south-central Vietnam. The region has a high concentration of ethnic minorities.
Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, Miền Nam) Southeast (Đông Nam Bộ, Miền Đông) 23,590.70 16,127,800 683.65 It contains the lowland parts of southern Vietnam north of the Mekong delta.
Mekong River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Cửu Long)
or Southwest (Tây Nam Bộ, Miền Tây) 		40,576.00 17,590,400 434.00 It is Vietnam's southernmost region, mostly containing small but populous provinces in the Mekong delta. It is sometimes referred to as the Southwest region (Tây Nam Bộ, Miền Tây).

ǂ Municipality

Table of provinces per region

Name Capital Population Area
(km2)
Northern Vietnam (Bắc Bộ)
Northeast Vietnam (Đông Bắc Bộ)
Bắc Giang Bắc Giang 1,522,000 3,822
Bắc Kạn Bắc Kạn 283,000 4,795
Cao Bằng Cao Bằng 501,800 6,691
Hà Giang Hà Giang 625,700 7,884
Lạng Sơn Lạng Sơn 715,300 8,305
Phú Thọ Việt Trì 1,288,400 3,519
Quảng Ninh Hạ Long 1,029,900 5,899
Thái Nguyên Thái Nguyên 1,046,000 3.563
Tuyên Quang Tuyên Quang 699,900 6,883
Northwest Vietnam (Tây Bắc Bộ)
Điện Biên Điện Biên Phủ 440,300 8,544
Hòa Bình Hòa Bình 774,100 4,663
Lai Châu Lai Châu 227,600 7,365
Sơn La Sơn La 922,200 14,055
Yên Bái Yên Bái 692,500 5,868
Lào Cai Lào Cai 616,500 8,057
Red River Delta (Đồng bằng sông Hồng)
Bắc Ninh Bắc Ninh 957,700 804
Hà Nam Phủ Lý 800,400 849
Hải Dương Hải Dương 1,670,800 1,648
Hưng Yên Hưng Yên 1,091,000 928
Nam Định Nam Định 1,916,400 1,637
Ninh Bình Ninh Bình 891,800 1,382
Thái Bình Thái Bình 1,814,700 1,542
Vĩnh Phúc Vĩnh Yên 1,115,700 1,371
Hà Nội (municipality) 2,154,900 921
Hải Phòng (municipality) 1,711,100 1,503
Central Vietnam (Trung Bộ)
North Central Coastal Vietnam (Bắc Trung Bộ)
Hà Tĩnh Hà Tĩnh 1,284,900 6,056
Nghệ An Vinh 2,913,600 16,487
Quảng Bình Đồng Hới 812,600 8,025
Quảng Trị Đông Hà 588,600 4,746
Thanh Hóa Thanh Hóa 3,509,600 11,106
Thừa Thiên Huế Huế 1,078,900 5,009
South Central Coastal Vietnam (Duyên hải Nam Trung Bộ)
Bình Định Qui Nhơn 1,481,000 6,076
Khánh Hòa Nha Trang 1,066,300 5,197
Phú Yên Tuy Hòa 811,400 5,045
Quảng Nam Tam Kỳ 1,402,700 10,408
Quảng Ngãi Quảng Ngãi 1,206,400 5,135
Bình Thuận Phan Thiết 1,079,700 7,828
Ninh Thuận Phan Rang–Tháp Chàm 531,700 3,360
Đà Nẵng (municipality) 715,000 1,256
Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên)
Đắk Lắk Buôn Ma Thuột 1,667,000 13,062
Đắk Nông Gia Nghĩa 363,000 6,514
Gia Lai Pleiku 1,048,000 15,496
Kon Tum Kon Tum 330,700 9,615
Lâm Đồng Da Lat 1,049,900 9,765
Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ)
Southeast Vietnam (Đông Nam Bộ)
Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Vũng Tàu 839,000 1,975
Bình Dương Thủ Dầu Một 768,100 2,696
Bình Phước Đồng Xoài 708,100 6,856
Đồng Nai Biên Hòa 2,067,200 5,895
Tây Ninh Tây Ninh 989,800 4,028
Hồ Chí Minh City (municipality) 5,378,100 2,095
Mekong River Delta (Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long)1
An Giang Long Xuyên 2,099,400 3,406
Bạc Liêu Bạc Liêu 756,800 2,521
Bến Tre Bến Tre 1,308,200 2,287
Cà Mau Cà Mau 1,158,000 5,192
Đồng Tháp Cao Lãnh 1,592,600 3,238
Hậu Giang Vị Thanh 766,000 1,608
Kiên Giang Rạch Giá 1,542,800 6,269
Long An Tân An 1,384,000 4,492
Sóc Trăng Sóc Trăng 1,213,400 3,223
Tiền Giang Mỹ Tho 1,635,700 2,367
Trà Vinh Trà Vinh 989,000 2,226
Vĩnh Long Vĩnh Long 1,023,400 1,475
Cần Thơ (municipality) 1,112,000 1,390

1 – a.k.a. Southwest Vietnam (Tây Nam Bộ)

See also

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