Northern Vietnam
Northern Vietnam is one of the three geographical regions within Vietnam. Tonkin is a historical exonym for this region plus the Thanh-Nghệ region.
Of the three geographical regions, the oldest is Northern Vietnam, where the Vietnamese culture originated over 2,000 years ago in the Red River Delta, though Vietnamese people eventually spread south into the Mekong Delta.
Administration
Northern Vietnam includes 3 administrative regions, which in turn comprises 25 First Tier units.| Administrative Region | First Tier Administrative Units | Area | Population | Population Density | Notes |
| Northeast | Bắc Giang Bắc Kạn Cao Bằng Hà Giang Lạng Sơn Phú Thọ Quảng Ninh Thái Nguyên Tuyên Quang | 50,684.10 | 9,425,741 | 169.05 | contains most of the mountainous provinces that lie to north of the highly populated Red River lowlands. Four of them are along Vietnam's border with China. |
| Northwest | Điện Biên Hòa Bình Lai Châu Lào Cai Sơn La Yên Bái | 44,301.10 | 4,720,270 | 100.37 | contains inland provinces in the west of Vietnam's northern part. Three of them are along Vietnam's border with Laos, and two border China. |
| Red River Delta | Bắc Ninh Hà Nam Hà Nội Hải Dương Hải Phòng Hưng Yên Nam Định Ninh Bình Thái Bình Vĩnh Phúc | 14,957.70 | 22,785,750 | 1,318.00 | contains the small but populous provinces along the mouth of the Red River. The Red River Delta has the smallest area but highest population and population density of all regions. It is also the only region without any land borders with neighboring countries. |
Municipality
Of all 25 First Tier units, 2 are municipalities and 23 are provinces.