At the third tier, a provincial city or town is divided into wards (phường), communes (xã), and townships (thị trấn).

The legislative branch of a province is the People's Council (Hội đồng Nhân dân or HDND for short).

The executive branch of a province is the People's Committee (Uỷ ban Nhân dân or UBND for short).

The judiciary branch of a province is the People's Court (Tòa án Nhân dân or TAND for short).

[3] Prior to the expansion of the capital city, this rank belonged to Thanh Hóa with 3,689,000 people.

In land area, the largest province is Nghệ An, which runs from the city of Vinh up the wide Sông Cả valley.

The smallest is Bắc Ninh, located in the populous Red River Delta region.

The regions include: ^† Municipality (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương)