He made the statement on the afternoon of December 24, as the National Assembly Standing Committee approved in principle two draft resolutions  -  one defining standards for administrative units and another on urban classification.

Administrative map to remain stable

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Deputy National Assembly Chair Nguyen Khac Dinh speaks at the session – Courtesy of the National Assembly

According to the Law on Local Government Organization, Vietnam’s administrative system is structured into two levels with five types of units: provinces, centrally-run cities, districts, communes, wards, and special zones.

After the recent administrative rearrangement, Vietnam now has 34 provincial-level units (6 centrally-run cities and 28 provinces) and 3,321 commune-level units (including 2,621 communes, 687 wards, and 13 special zones).

Deputy Chair Nguyen Khac Dinh emphasized that these numbers will remain unchanged for many years.

“The Party and the State have no policy to further merge, divide, or reorganize administrative units,” he said, stressing that the new resolutions are meant to support local governance and urban planning, not to initiate another round of restructuring.

New standards for local governance

Presenting the government’s proposal, Minister of Home Affairs Do Thanh Binh said that after the recent administrative adjustments, the scale and population of many provinces and communes had changed significantly, making current standards outdated.

The draft resolution includes three chapters and 12 articles.

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Minister of Home Affairs Do Thanh Binh presents the proposal – Courtesy of the National Assembly

For rural administrative units (provinces and communes), the population and land area requirements will remain the same, but new standards related to socioeconomic development orientation are added to guide modernization and sustainability.

For centrally-run cities, the proposed standards will increase minimum population from 1 million to 2.5 million people and land area from 1,500 km² to 2,500 km².

The draft also adds criteria on urban infrastructure, spatial organization, and urbanization rate, requiring a minimum of 45% urbanization and that at least 30% of commune-level units be wards.

For wards, population standards will rise two to three times compared to pre-merger levels, while the minimum land area of 5.5 km² remains unchanged. Additional criteria will evaluate urban function, infrastructure, and social development.

Special zones will continue to be established in accordance with decisions from higher authorities, and must achieve at least 50% of the minimum standards for urban population and economic structure to be classified as urban areas.

Calls for clarity and feasibility

Hoang Thanh Tung, Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Legal and Judicial Affairs, suggested clarifying the use of existing urban classification results when assessing eligibility for establishing new cities, to avoid duplication in procedures.

He also called for adjustments to ensure the new standards are feasible and suitable for diverse local realities, particularly in income levels and population ratios for island or rural wards.

The committee further recommended unifying socioeconomic criteria between the draft resolutions on administrative standards and urban classification for consistency.

In conclusion, Deputy Chair Nguyen Khac Dinh reaffirmed that these resolutions are intended to strengthen administrative efficiency and urban development planning, not to alter Vietnam’s existing administrative structure.

Tran Thuong