Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu

The province existed in two periods: from December 20, 1899 to February 24, 1976 (the period 1899 – 1956 when the province was named Bà Rịa and the period 1956 – 1976 when the province was named Phước Tuy), and from August 12, 1991 to July 1, 2025. On 12 June 2025, Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu was incorporated into Ho Chi Minh City. The current territory of the province corresponds to the eastern and southern parts of Ho Chi Minh City.

• Name — Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu • Official Name — Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu Province • Other Name — Phước Tuy • Type — Province • Nickname — A Place to Dock Boats • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Vietnam • Subdivision Type1 — Region • Subdivision Name1 — Southeast • Subdivision Type2 — Metropolitan area • Subdivision Name2 — Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area • Seat Type — Capital • Seat — Bà Rịa • Seat1 Type — Largest city and former capital • Seat1 — Vũng Tàu (until 2 May 2012) • Leader Title — People's Council Chair • Leader Name — Nguyễn Hồng Lĩnh • Leader Title1 — People's Committee Chair • Leader Name1 — Nguyễn Thành Long • Leader Title2 — Secretary of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Party Committee • Leader Name2 — Nguyễn Hồng Lĩnh • Area Total Km2 — 1,982.56 • Population Total — 1,313,905 • Population As Of — 2025 • Population Density Km2 — auto • Demographics Type1 — Demographics • Demographics1 Title1 — Ethnic groups • Demographics1 Info1 — 97.53% Vietnamese • Demographics Type2 — GDP • Demographics2 Title1 — Total • Demographics2 Info1 — VND 366.456 trillion US$ 15.250 billion (2023) • Custom Label1 Sec1 — HDI (2022) • Custom Data1 Sec1 — 0.821 (1st) • Time Zone — ICT • Utc Offset — +7 • Area Code Type — Area codes • Area Code — 64 (until 16 July 2017) 254 (from 17 June 2017) • Iso Code — VN-43 • Website — https: baria-vungtau.gov.vn

• Illustration — Drawing of Bà Rịa citadel in 1875 With the exception of the Côn Đảo islands, all of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province was the Phước Tuy province after merging Bà Rịa Province and Vũng Tàu Town in the South Vietnam before 1975, including the Spratly Islands was a part of Phước Hải commune, Đất Đỏ district then (now is a townville of Long Đất district). Then once it was a part of Đồng Nai province to the north after the Fall of Saigon. In 1979, Vũng Tàu was separated from Đồng Nai and merged with the Côn Đảo islands (formerly part of Hậu Giang province), forming the new Vũng Tàu–Côn Đảo "special zone". Later, in 1992, the rest former part of Bà Rịa broke away from Đồng Nai Province, merging with Vũng Tàu–Côn Đảo to form the province of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu. On March 1, 2025, Phú Mỹ was officially upgraded from town to city-status. The city consisted of 10 commune-level administrative units, including 7 wards and 3 communes. On 12 June 2025, as part of major nationwide reforms, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province was dissolved and along with Bình Dương province to be merged into Ho Chi Minh City.

The province had a tropical monsoon climate with two distinct seasons: a rainy season from May to October, and a dry season from November to April. The average annual temperature is 27 °C, ranging from an average monthly temperature of 24.8 °C to an average monthly temperature of 28.6 °C. The province received 2,400 hours of sunshine per year while it receives an annual precipitation of 1500 mm.

At the time of dissolution, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu was subdivided into seven district-level sub-divisions: • Four districts: • Châu Đức • Côn Đảo (island district) • Long Đất (established from merging Long Điền and Đất Đỏ districts shortly before the dissolutuon) • Xuyên Mộc • Three provincial cities: • Bà Rịa (capital) • Phú Mỹ (largest city by area) • Vũng Tàu (largest city) They were further subdivided into seven commune-level towns (or townlets), 40 communes, and 30 wards. • Illustration — Côn Đảo district • Illustration — The city of Bà Rịa • Illustration — The city of Vũng Tàu • District-level sub-divisions — Bà Rịa City — Vũng Tàu City — Phú Mỹ City — Châu Đức District — Côn Đảo District — Long Đất District — Xuyên Mộc District • Area (km 2) — 91.5 — 141.1 — 333.02 — 422.6 — 75.79 — 267.42 — 640.9 • Population — 205,192 — 420,860 — 287,055 — 143,306 — 13,112 — 241,501 — 162,356 • Density (people/km 2) — 2,243 — 3,737 — 861 — 339 — 173 — 903 — 253 • Administrative divisions — 7 wards, 3 communes — 16 wards, 1 communes — 7 wards, 3 communes — 2 townlet, 14 communes — not subdivided — 4 townlets, 7 communes — 1 townlets, 12 communes • Year of establishment — 2012 — 1992 — 2018 — 1994 — 1991 — 2025 — 1976 • Source: Website of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Province

• History of developing population • Year — Population • 1995 — 708,900 • 1996 — 730,400 • 1997 — 752,700 • 1998 — 775,600 • 1999 — 805,100 • 2000 — 829,900 • 2001 — 858,000 • 2002 — 880,800 • 2003 — 899,100 • 2004 — 918,900 • 2005 — 938,800 • 2006 — 955,700 • 2007 — 970,200 • 2008 — 983,600 • 2009 — 998,500 • 2010 — 1,012,000 • 2011 — 1,027,200 • 2017 — 1,098,794 • 2019 — 1,148,313 • Source: According to 2015 statistics from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, the province had a population of 1,072,600. Urbanization in the province is above the country's average (50.52%).

Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu provincial economic activities included: petroleum (the most important), electricity at the Phú Mỹ Power Plants and Bà Rịa Power Plant (accounting for approx. 40% of the country's total power capacity), petrochemicals: Phú Mỹ Urea Plant (800,000 metric tonnes per year), polyethylene (100,000 metric tonnes per year), steel production, and cement production. Tourism, commerce and fishing were also important economic activities of the province. Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu contributed greatly to the country's budget. In 2005, it accounted for around 24 percent of Vietnam's budget (42,000 billion dong) of a total of 180,000 billion dong (exchange rate is 16,000 dong/dollar), ranking second, after Ho Chi Minh City before Hanoi (28,000 billion dong in 2005). The provincial GDP per capita ranked second to none in the country, over $4,000, if excluding petroleum GDP, it is over $2,000 (Hồ Chí Minh City ranks second with this index $1,850). In terms of living standards, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu ranked third, behind Hồ Chí Minh City and Hanoi. Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu was also one of the leading direct foreign investment (FDI) attractions of Vietnam, in the top five of FDI acquisition provinces of Vietnam. In tourism, there were some big projects licensed or to be licensed soon: Saigon Atlantis resort (capitalized US$300 million), Vũng Tàu Aquarium and Bàu Trũng entertainment park ($500), and Xuyên Mộc safari ($200). On Vietnam's Provincial Competitiveness Index 2023, a key tool for evaluating the business environment in Vietnam’s provinces, Ba Ria-Vung Tau received a score of 69.57. This was a slight decrease from 2022 in which the province received a score of 70.26. In 2023, the province received its highest scores on the ‘law and order’ and ‘informal charges’ criteria and lowest on ‘business support policy’ and ‘labour policy’.

Vũng Tàu is an important tourist destination, being particularly well known for its beaches, for its colonial-era architecture, and the Christ of Vũng Tàu, a large statue built by Vietnam's Catholic minority. It was completed in 1974, with the height of 32 metres and two outstretched arms spanning 18.4 metres. It is among the tallest statues of Christ in Asia. Among the most famous tourist destinations are the existing very popular and crowded beaches of Vũng Tàu and Long Hải and the new up and coming destinations of Hồ Tràm and Hồ Cốc located further along the South Sea coast. The main media agency in the province is the Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Daily Newspaper. Determining tourism as one of the pillars of local socio-economic development, in early 2017, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province decided to re-establish the Tourism Department. By the end of the year, the Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Provincial Party Committee had issued a resolution on developing high-quality tourism, which aimed to develop the tourism infrastructure and improve the quality of tourism products and services in the direction of modernity and difference, while ensuring a safe, civilized and friendly tourist environment. According to Trịnh Hàng, Director of the Tourism Department of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province, since its establishment, the Tourism Department has advised the Provincial People's Committee on many plans such as the census of tourist accommodation establishments throughout the province, the plan on enhancing the management of tourist destinations, the plan on regulations to select tourism establishments with the title "Meeting the standards for tourist service", the plan on regulations to manage the beaches, and completing the master plan on tourist development of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province by 2025, with a vision to 2030. With the efforts of the provincial tourism industry and local authorities, the image of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu tourism has created a positive impression for visitors. Many other visitors to Vũng Tàu at this time have also been impressed by the changes in the destination. Vũng Tàu tourism is very much regaining its prestige and class.

Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu serves as a major trade gateway for Vietnam due to its proximity to industrial zones, port complex, major highways, and transshipment routes. Infrastructure investments in the province have not only increased connectivity within the province but also with neighboring economic hubs such as Ho Chi Minh City and Đồng Nai province.

Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu is a major gateway for international shipments in Southeast Asia, due to the Cái Mép–Thị Vải port complex. The port system ranks among the major ports in the region and one of only 19 in the world capable of handling 190,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) vessels. Container ships from this port complex are capable of transporting goods to Europe as well as North America. In addition, the province is also around 70 km from Ho Chi Minh City's Cát Lái port, the busiest port in the city before the expansion of the city. The government is also planning to increase investments in the development of terminals and road infrastructure to increase connectivity, efficiency, and port capacity.

The Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City is less than 90 km from the province and around 70 km from the Cái Mép–Thị Vải port complex. In addition, the new Long Thành International Airport which is under construction is only around 30 minutes from the port complex and 50 km from the province.

The province has access to major national highways such as National Highway 51 and National Highway 1. In addition, expressways such as Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thành – Dầu Giây Expressway, Biên Hòa–Vũng Tàu Expressway, Bến Lức – Long Thành Expressway (HCMC Ring Road 3; to open in 2026), and the upcoming HCMC Ring Road 4 further increase connectivity with the surrounding provinces. Within the province, the connectivity between ports or industrial zones with the national roadway systems is supported by numerous regional highways, port roads, and industrial zone roads.

A rapid transit connects with the province's cities are Bà Rịa, Vũng Tàu and Phú Mỹ with Long Thành International Airport was planned.

As of August 2018, there are 15 industrial parks in BRVT, including nine which are operational with an average occupancy rate of 47 per cent. There are currently 339 projects in local industrial parks, including 162 foreign and 177 domestic projects. The locality is also home to two industrial parks that specialize in supporting industries, Phú Mỹ 3 and Đá Bạc.

There were nine sister cities/regions of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province: • City/region — Since • South Jeolla — 12 May 1997 • Rostov OblastRostov Oblast, Russia — 28 February 2000 • Sverdlovsk OblastSverdlovsk Oblast, Russia — 9 September 2000 • Ansan, South Korea — 17 August 2004 • Northern TerritoryNorthern Territory, Australia — 19 September 2007 • Nova ScotiaNova Scotia, Canada — 30 November 2009 • Pohang, South Korea — 9 March 2010 • Nenets Autonomous OkrugNenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia — 31 October 2010 • Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan — 15 September 2012

• Nghinh Co Festival at Dinh Cố Shrine (12th day of the second lunar month) • Sea Festival • The fair in this festival will also showcase products and promote cooperation between businesses in industry, agriculture, trade and services in the province and neighboring provinces. Several seminars and workshops on trade and tourism promotion, as well as environmental protection, will be organised • International Kite Festival (held annually since 2009 in Vũng Tàu City)

• Illustration — Vũng Tàu, the province's largest city • Illustration — Long Hải Beach, a small beach town next to Vũng Tàu also attracts tourists • Illustration — Hồ Tràm, the "resort capital" of the province • Illustration — Port in Phú Mỹ, the province's industrial town • Illustration — Bà Rịa, the province's capital and administration centre