Red River Delta

Provinces

• Quảng Ninh province, Bắc Giang province, Thái Nguyên province and Phú Thọ province are sometimes included as a province of the Red River Delta. Alternatively, they are seen as part of the Northeast region.
• Hà Tây province was merged into Hanoi in 2008.

Geography

Spanning some 150 km in width, the Red River Delta is located in the western coastal zone of the Gulf of Tonkin. The Red River is the second largest river in Vietnam and one of the five largest rivers on the East Asia coast. Its catchment covers parts of China and Vietnam and its water and sediment discharges greatly influence the hydrology in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Delta economy

In 2003, of the 78 million people in Vietnam, almost a third (24 million) live in the Red River basin, including over 17 million people in the delta itself. There are many large industrial zones in the Red River Delta clustering in Viet Tri, Hanoi, Haiphong and Nam Dinh. Most of the population works in rice cultivation but the delta region hosts other important economic activities such as fisheries, aquaculture, land reclamation for agriculture, harbor construction, mangrove forestry, etc. The socio-economic development in the delta is also affected by seasonal storms, flooding, coastal erosion, silting, salt water intrusion, etc.

Though the Red River Delta makes up only 5% of Vietnam's land, 30% of the country's population live there, making it the most densely populated part of the country. 80% of the population are employed in agriculture, but the agricultural lands of the delta amount to only about .3-.5 hectares per household, making the limited supply of arable lands a significant constraint to improving living standards.

Agriculturally the Red River Delta is the second most important rice-producing area in Vietnam, accounting for 20% of the national crop. Production of rice is close to optimal with very little yield gap to exploit and employing double cropping techniques to achieve close to maximum yields. However the rich soil of the delta does present a possibility of crop diversification and there is potential for further development of aquaculture. With these developmental pressures the estuarine environment and ecosystem face degradation due to threats of pollution, over-fishing and aquaculture destroying natural habitats.

References

1. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab".
2. Whitfield, D. ''Historical and Cultural Dictionary of Vietnam''. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, 1976.
3. (September 20, 2025). "Đồng bằng sông Hồng còn 6 địa phương, Thủ tướng yêu cầu phát huy vai trò đầu tàu". Nguoi Lao Dong.
4. Sidwell, Paul. 2021. [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GSfNDgaDM_lzWrQxZ5w-Tas8aVKfT-Sj/view ''Austroasiatic Dispersal: the AA "Water-World" Extended'']. [https://sites.google.com/site/sealsjournal/seals-and-jseals-history/seals-online-2021/seals-2021-program SEALS 2021] {{Webarchive. link. (2021-12-16 . ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QREB1UttWTI Video)])
5. "Red River Delta {{!}} United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization".
6. "Area, population and population density by province".
7. (18 October 2023). "Phê duyệt và công bố kết quả thống kê diện tích đất đai năm 2022".
8. "VnExpress - Địa giới Hà Nội chính thức mở rộng từ 1/8 - Dia gioi Ha Noi chinh thuc mo rong tu 1/8".
9. Edwards et al (eds.) ''Rural Aquaculture'', CABI publishing, page 56.
10. Thanh, Tran. (1 January 2003). "Researches in estuarine environment and ecosystem of Red River: An overview on activities and results". MarINE Environment and Resources. Science and Technics Publishing. House..