Public opinion is suddenly interested in the 1976 map of Vietnam with 38 provinces and cities.

At the end of 1975, the National Assembly passed a resolution to abolish the regional level, dissolve autonomous regions, merge administrative units, and merge a series of provinces in the North and North Central regions. By the beginning of 1976, the merger of provincial-level administrative units was widely carried out throughout the country.

In 1976, Vietnam had 38 provinces and cities, including 35 provinces and 3 centrally-run cities. This was the year with the smallest number of provinces and cities in Vietnam in the past half century.

At that time, the North had 13 provinces and 2 cities. The provinces included Bac Thai, Cao Lang, Ha Nam Ninh, Ha Bac, Ha Son Binh, Ha Tuyen, Hai Hung, Hoang Lien Son, Lai Chau, Quang Ninh, Son La, Thai Binh, Vinh Phu. The two cities were Hanoi and Hai Phong.

The Central region has 10 provinces: Thanh Hoa, Nghe Tinh, Binh Tri Thien, Quang Nam - Da Nang, Nghia Binh, Phu Khanh, Thuan Hai, Gia Lai - Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Lam Dong.

The South has 12 provinces: Song Be, Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Long An, Dong Thap, An Giang, Tien Giang, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, Ben Tre, Cuu Long, Minh Hai and Ho Chi Minh City.

When the proposal to merge provinces was discussed, a map of Vietnam in 1976 was widely shared on social media. Many comments said that Vietnam today should only maintain about 38 provinces and cities like in 1976.

Some people analyzed that the model of 38 provinces and cities in 1976 was "not stable" because the areas of the northern mountainous provinces and some provinces in the Central and Central Highlands were very large, causing difficulties for people to travel to do administrative procedures. Therefore, Vietnam had to adjust its administrative boundaries many times to be suitable.

However, in the current conditions, many people believe that with the strong development of information technology, transportation between provinces and cities is increasingly convenient, so it is appropriate for our country to reduce the number of provinces and cities to 30 - 40.

According to the reporter's investigation, the above map was published in Saigon Giai Phong Newspaper. with information about 38 provinces and cities.

Sharing with reporters about the above story, Prof. Dr. Vu Minh Giang, Chairman of the Science and Training Council (Hanoi National University), Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, commented that public interest is normal.

"Before the country's major decisions, the people's attention is a good sign, because those decisions bring about changes, affecting many aspects of people's lives. It also shows that the people are interested in the country's political life, in a very positive way," Mr. Giang commented.

Mr. Giang affirmed that any major decision of the Party and State must have a scientific and practical basis. The organization of administrative units to suit economic, social, historical circumstances and development requirements is always changing. Therefore, in the history of Vietnam, there have been many administrative reforms, mergers or separations of provinces.

"A country has many or few provinces depending on its cultural, economic, social characteristics and the requirements for managing the country in a certain period. However, in an era of widespread scientific development like today, looking far and wide to other countries, the world will see that a country with an area of ​​331,212 km2 but has 63 provinces and cities like ours, there are few places in the world like that", analyzed Prof. Dr. Vu Minh Giang.

According to Mr. Giang, the fact that netizens are interested in discussing the 1976 map of Vietnam with 38 provinces and cities is an indication of the urgent need to reduce provincial administrative units.

"We have relatively small provincial administrative units. This is a bit different from the general trend of the world, so we have to adjust accordingly. How many provinces there are will be a thorough study," Mr. Giang stated his opinion.

National Assembly delegate Pham Van Hoa (Dong Thap) said Vietnam has separated and merged provinces many times for development but not thoroughly.

Mr. Hoa thinks that under current conditions, Vietnam should only maintain about 40 provincial-level administrative units. For example, China, with a population of more than 1.4 billion people, only has 34 provincial-level administrative units: 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 centrally-run cities and 2 special administrative regions.

In addition to population size and natural area, the National Assembly delegate said it is necessary to take into account criteria on culture, history, national security and defense, sovereignty protection, geopolitical position, and culture of the community when considering merging provinces to ensure stability for socio-economic development.

Previously, the Politburo requested that the project to study the merger of several provinces be submitted to the Party Central Committee before April 7.

At the Government meeting on March 5, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested to focus on completing the project to rearrange the boundaries of administrative units according to the direction of the Politburo to submit to competent authorities.

The direction emphasized by the Government leaders is to merge some provinces to expand provincial boundaries in accordance with criteria, conditions, circumstances, historical and cultural traditions; not to organize at the district level; to reduce focal points to expand the scale of the commune level.