Vietnam's National Assembly approves provincial merger resolution

Vietnam's National Assembly on Thursday officially passed a resolution on merging provincial-level administrative units, reducing the number of provinces and cities from 63 to 34, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Based on the current status and development orientation of Vietnam's 63 provincial-level localities, the government has formulated merger plans for 52 provinces to establish 23 new administrative units.

The new resolution comprises six centrally governed cities and 28 provinces, with immediate legal effect from Thursday, the report added.

According to official statistics, the reorganized provinces have a total of more than 447,000 civil servants, whose payrolls will be reviewed according to the new administrative boundaries.

After administrative restructuring, Vietnam will adopt a two-tier system and cut 250,000 staff, which is projected to save over 190 trillion Vietnam dong from 2026 to 2030.

Local governments in the new units are expected to officially start operating from July 1, with the central government responsible for guiding transitional measures and resolving implementation issues.