An overview of Hai Duong province

Located in the centre of the Red River Delta, Hai Duong province is among seven localities of the northern key economic region. It is viewed as a dynamic economic centre and an important driving force of the northern region and the whole country.

The province has 12 administrative units, including two cities, one town and nine districts, with Hai Duong city being its economic, political, and cultural centre.

Hai Duong covers an area of 1,668 sq.km and belongs to the monsoon tropical zone. Average temperature was at 25.3 degree Celsius in 2019, with a total of 1,549 hours of sunshine. Average rainfall stood at 104.6 mm per month and average humidity at 84 percent in the year.

The province’s population was over 1,907,246 as of January 2020, ranking ninth in the country and third in the Red River Delta, behind Hanoi and Hai Phong. Some 31.4 percent of the population live in urban areas.

In 2019, the province’s population structure based on age groups was as follow: people under 15 made up 24.1 percent; people aged 15-59, 60.3 percent; and those aged 60 and above, 15.6 percent.

Kinh people account for a lion’s share of 99.4 percent of the province’s population. Nearly 11,000 were ethnic minorities who came from other places to seek jobs and get married in the province.

The province boasts a workforce of 1,07 million, with those in the working age accounting for 83.6 percent. Some 1.05 million among them have stable jobs, of whom 28.8 percent working in the agro-forestry-fishery sector, 45.2 percent in the industrial and construction sector, and 26.1 percent in the service sector.

The basically complete infrastructure system has enabled the province to boost socio-economic development and better connect with other localities in the region. Infrastructure in local industrial zones and clusters has been completed, creating optimal conditions to attract investors.

The province now has 11 operational industrial parks, with a combined area of 1,470 ha. Occupancy rate in those parks hits 81 percent. In addition, there are 37 industrial clusters scattering in favourable locations of 11 localities in the province, spanning 1,587 ha. They have lured about 400 investment projects, with an occupancy rate of 70.8 percent.

By the end of 2019, Hai Duong was home to 509 foreign investment projects, with a combined registered capital of 7.7 billion USD, generating over 200,000 direct and thousands of indirect jobs.

The Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) increased 8.7 percent year-on-year in 2019. In the 2015-19 period, the province recorded an average growth of 9.3 percent per annum. The scale of economy hit about 127.94 trillion VND (5.51 billion USD), ranking 11th nationwide.

The provincial economy mainly focused on industrial and service sectors, which accounted for 59.1 percent and 32.1 percent, respectively. Agro-fishery-forestry and aquaculture only made up 8.8 percent. GRDP per capita stood at 67.5 million VND (2,947 USD) per person.

Last year, the province exported goods worth 7.5 billion USD. Exports in the 2015-19 surged 14.8 percent a year, always among 10 provinces and cities with the highest export value in the country.

Implementing the policy on streamlining the administrative management system, Hai Duong carried out a plan on re-arranging communal-level administrative units. As a result, the province now has 235 administrative units at the communal level (47 wards, 10 townships and 178 communes), down 30 units, or 11.3 percent.

At the same time, the province actively reviewed and re-arranged villages and residential areas to improve efficiency of activities at the grassroots level. By early 2020, the province had 1,334 villages and residential areas, a decrease of 135 ones or 3.2 percent./.