Commune (Vietnam)

This subdivision has existed since 1428, when Emperor Lê Thái Tổ re-organised the country into five administrative levels.

Since 2019, Vietnam has undertaken a comprehensive rearrangement of administrative units in order to streamline the apparatus of local authorities.

[2] The re-organisation, conducted in two periods, between 2020 and 2023 and between 2023 and 2030, comprises forced mergers of several districts and commune-level administrative units and localities.

Counted together, the ten province-level administrative units containing the most communes—namely, Thanh Hoá (586), Nghệ An (436), Hanoi (408), Thái Bình (267), Phú Thọ (251), Hà Tĩnh (238), Hải Dương (234), Quảng Nam (210), Bắc Giang (207) and Lạng Sơn (207)—contain one-third of all the communes in Vietnam.

[4] According to data extracted from General Statistics Office of Vietnam, there were 11,164 third-level (commune-level) administrative subdivisions.

[5] As of April 2023, the number of third-level units dropped to 10,598 units including 1,737 wards, 614 commune-level towns and 8,247 communes After ascending to the throne of Vietnam and established the Lê Dynasty, Lê Thái Tổ divided the country into đạo 道 (province), phủ 府, huyện 縣 (district or county), and xã 社 (commune).

Several problems—including corruption, unnecessary amounts of forced relocation and poor execution—caused the program to backfire drastically, decrease support for Diem's regime and increase sympathy for Communist efforts.