Northern Vietnam (Vietnamese: Bắc Bộ) is one of three geographical regions within Vietnam. It consists of three administrative regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng). It has a total area of about 109,942.9 km2. Tonkin is a historical exonym for this region plus the Thanh-Nghệ region.

Regions of Vietnam

Of the three geographical regions, the oldest is Northern Vietnam, where the Vietnamese culture originated in the Red River Delta, though Vietnamese people eventually spread south into the Mekong Delta.

Administration edit

Northern Vietnam includes three administrative regions, which in turn comprises 25 First Tier units.

Northern Vietnam
Administrative Region First Tier Administrative Units Area (km2)[1][2] Population (2022)[1] Population Density
(people/ km2)
Notes
Northeast (Đông Bắc Bộ)

Bắc Giang
Bắc Kạn
Cao Bằng
Hà Giang
Lạng Sơn
Phú Thọ
Quảng Ninh
Thái Nguyên
Tuyên Quang

50,826.38 9,474,710 186.41 contains most of the mountainous provinces that lie to north of the highly populated Red River lowlands. Four of them are along Vietnam's border with China.
Northwest (Tây Bắc Bộ)

Điện Biên
Hòa Bình
Lai Châu
Lào Cai
Sơn La
Yên Bái

50,565.71 4,911,370 97.13 contains inland provinces in the west of Vietnam's northern part. Three of them are along Vietnam's border with Laos, and two border China (Dien Bien borders both China and Laos).
Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng)

Bắc Ninh
Hà Nam
Hà Nội
Hải Dương
Hải Phòng
Hưng Yên
Nam Định
Ninh Bình
Thái Bình
Vĩnh Phúc

15,070.70 22,091,250 1,465.84 contains the small but populous provinces along the mouth of the Red River. The Red River Delta has the smallest area but highest population and population density of all regions. It is also the only region without any land borders with neighboring countries.

^† Municipality (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương)

Of all 25 First Tier units, two are municipalities and 23 are provinces.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Area, population and population density by province". General Statistics Office of Vietnam. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Phê duyệt và công bố kết quả thống kê diện tích đất đai năm 2022" [Approve and announce the results of land area statistics in 2022]. Decision No. 3048/QĐ-BTNMT of 18 October 2023 (in Vietnamese). Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Vietnam). Retrieved 12 April 2024.