According to the proposal, Hanoi will be assigned the administrative code 01, Da Nang will be 48, and Ho Chi Minh City will be 79.

This new coding system is intended to replace the existing codes established under Decision 124/2004. The updated codes will support management, planning, and statistical functions following significant national administrative reforms.

As outlined in the National Assembly’s recently passed resolution on the 2025 provincial merger plan, Vietnam’s total number of provinces and municipalities will be reduced from 63 to just 34. Additionally, district and commune-level units will be streamlined from 10,035 to 3,321. This necessitates a comprehensive update of the administrative codes.

According to the draft, the administrative codes for provinces will consist of two-digit numbers assigned to 34 newly restructured provinces and cities. The codes for commune-level units will consist of four digits, covering all 3,321 administrative units.

The coding system will follow a geographical logic from north to south and west to east, based on national boundaries and regional zoning. Hanoi, being the capital, is assigned the first code. Other provinces and cities will be ordered similarly.

Within each province, the administrative unit housing the provincial People’s Committee headquarters will be listed first. Urban areas will precede rural ones, following the same north-to-south and west-to-east order.

In cases where a province’s administrative center remains unchanged, its code will be retained. However, if the headquarters is relocated, a new code will be assigned. Notably, the codes of district- and commune-level units within that province will remain unchanged.

The draft also stipulates that the merged province will adopt the code of the province where the new headquarters is located, while the other province's code will be retired and not reassigned. This principle similarly applies to changes at the commune level when administrative centers are relocated.

Importantly, renaming or reclassifying an area from rural to urban (or vice versa) will not affect its administrative code.

The Vinh