Delimitation of ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2026

Photo caption — Sila ethnic people in Lai Chau province are excited to harvest rice. Photo: Dinh Thuy/VNA

The Decree consists of 6 chapters and 14 articles stipulating: criteria for determining villages, hamlets, villages, phums, socs, hamlets, residential areas, residential groups and equivalents (collectively referred to as villages); communes, wards, special zones (collectively referred to as communes); provinces, cities (collectively referred to as provinces) in ethnic minority areas; mountainous villages, communes, and provinces;

The Decree also stipulates criteria for determining extremely difficult villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas (called extremely difficult villages); criteria for determining communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas according to development level, including communes in region I, region II and region III; procedures, records, authority for determining, determining and announcing the results of determining and determining villages, communes and provinces in the period 2026 - 2030; effective date of the List of villages, communes and provinces in ethnic minority and mountainous areas; extremely difficult villages; communes in region I, II, III; responsibilities of agencies and organizations in organizing the implementation of this Decree.

The Decree stipulates criteria for determining areas; delimiting village and commune areas according to specific development levels as follows:

*Criteria for determining villages, communes, and provinces in ethnic minority areas

1. An ethnic minority village is a village where 15% or more ethnic minorities live stably in a community.

2. An ethnic minority commune is a commune that meets at least one of the following two criteria:

a) 15% or more of ethnic minorities live stably;

b) There are 4,500 or more ethnic minorities living stably.

3. An ethnic minority province is a province that meets at least one of the following two criteria:

a) 15% or more of ethnic minorities live stably;

b) 2/3 or more of the communes are ethnic minority communes.

*Criteria for determining mountainous villages, communes and provinces

1. A mountain village is a village that meets at least one of the following two criteria:

a) At least 2/3 of the natural area is located at an altitude of 200 meters or more above sea level;

b) At least 2/3 of the natural area has a terrain slope of 15% or more.

2. A mountainous commune is a commune that meets at least one of the following two criteria:

a) At least 2/3 of the natural area is located at an altitude of 200 meters or more above sea level;

b) 2/3 or more of the villages are mountainous villages.

3. A mountainous province is a province that meets at least one of the following two criteria:

a) At least 2/3 of the natural area is located at an altitude of 200 meters or more above sea level;

b) 2/3 or more of the communes are mountainous communes.

*Criteria for determining particularly difficult villages

A particularly difficult village is a village in an ethnic minority or mountainous area, with at least 2 of the following 3 criteria:

1. The multidimensional poverty rate is 4 times or higher than the general multidimensional poverty rate of the whole country; in particular, the multidimensional poverty rate in the Mekong Delta region is 2 times or higher than the general multidimensional poverty rate of the whole country.

2. Less than 60% of village and inter-village roads are hardened to ensure convenient year-round vehicle travel according to technical standards prescribed in road laws.

3. The rate of households with electricity purchase contracts is under 90%.

*Division of communes according to development level

Regarding the division of communes according to development level, the Decree stipulates:

1. The subjects of classification according to development level are communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

2. Criteria for classifying communes according to development level:

a) Have per capita income lower than 50% of the national average per capita income;

b) The multidimensional poverty rate is 2 times or higher than the general multidimensional poverty rate of the whole country; in particular, the multidimensional poverty rate in the Mekong Delta region is 1.5 times or higher than the general multidimensional poverty rate of the whole country;

c) The rate of households with electricity purchase contracts is under 95%;

d) The rate of households using clean water according to standards is under 30%;

d) Less than 80% of commune roads are asphalted or concreted to ensure convenient year-round vehicle travel according to technical standards prescribed by road laws, or have been asphalted or concreted but seriously degraded, possibly causing difficulty in travel and unsafety, especially in the rainy season, with a rate of over 50%;

e) Commune health care has not met the standards according to the national criteria for the period up to 2030;

g) The rate of schools at all levels (preschool, primary, secondary or multi-level schools with the highest level being secondary) meeting the material facilities standards as prescribed at level 1 is below 50%;

h) There is no or there is boarding accommodation for students but it does not meet the accommodation needs of students (for boarding schools for ethnic minorities, it meets less than 80%, for semi-boarding schools for ethnic minorities, it meets less than 60%);

i) The proportion of agricultural land with active irrigation and drainage is under 50%;

k) There is no commune-level Cultural - Sports Center or the commune-level Cultural - Sports Center does not meet the prescribed standards;

l) The rate of villages with mobile internet access or fixed broadband internet is under 95%;

m) The rate of households with hygienic toilets is under 50%.

3. Classify communes according to development level (communes in region I, region II, region III):

a) Commune in region I (developing commune) is a commune that meets less than 3 criteria according to the above regulations.

b) Communes in region II (disadvantaged communes) are communes with 3 to 5 criteria according to the above regulations;

c) A commune in region III (particularly disadvantaged commune) is a commune that has one of the following two cases: Having 6 or more criteria as prescribed above; or having 3 or more criteria as prescribed above and at the same time having 50% or more of the commune's villages classified as particularly disadvantaged villages as prescribed.

The Decree takes effect from December 1, 2025. In case the list of villages, communes and provinces as prescribed in this Decree has not been announced by January 1, 2026, the current list issued under Decision No. 33/2020/QD-TTg dated November 12, 2020 of the Prime Minister shall continue to be temporarily applied. The application period shall not exceed March 31, 2026.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/phan-dinh-vung-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-va-mien-nui-giai-doan-2026-2030-20251017200736852.htm