Bắc Ninh () is a centrally-governed city in Vietnam, located in the Red River Delta region. It borders Hanoi, Hải Phòng, Quảng Ninh cities, Hưng Yên province, Lạng Sơn province, and Thái Nguyên province. The city covers an area of and as of 2025 it has a population of 3,619,433.
Bắc Ninh is known for Quan họ folk music. Quan họ was recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO in 2009.UNESCO Culture Sector - Intangible Heritage - 2003 Convention : The city has a Human Development Index of 0.779 (high), ranking seventh among all municipalities and provinces of Vietnam. It was ranked eighth in Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) and third in per capita GRDP among Vietnamese administrative units. The GRDP reached 248.376 trillion Vietnamese Đồng (equivalent to over 10.8 billion USD), with a per capita GRDP of 7,250 USD (equivalent to 167 million Đồng), and a GRDP growth rate of 7.39% in 2022.
Climate Bắc Ninh features a warm humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa). It is located in a tropical monsoon region. The annual average temperature is 24 °C. The highest is 30 °C in July; the lowest is 6 °C in January. The city experiences the typical climate of northern Vietnam, where summers are hot and humid, and winters are, by national standards, relatively cold and dry. Summers, lasting from May to September, are hot and humid, receiving the majority of the annual of rainfall. The winters, lasting from November to March, are relatively mild, dry (in the first half) or humid (in the second half), while spring (April) can bring light rains. Autumn (October) is the best time of the year in terms of weather. The average annual sunshine is 1,530-1,776 hours, while the relative humidity is 79%.
Demography Historical population Year Population 1995 916,000 1996 925,300 1997 931,700 1998 937,600 1999 943,000 2000 950,600 2001 958,900 2002 967,600 2003 975,300 2004 983,200 2005 991,100 2006 999,800 2007 1,009,400 2008 1,018,100 2009 1,026,500 2010 1,041,200 2011 1,063,400 2012 1,085,800 2013 1,108,200 2014 1,131,200 2015 1,154,750 2016 1,178,600 2017 1,215,200 2018 1,247,500 2019 1,378,600 2020 1,419,130 2021 1,462,950 2022 1,488,200 2023 1,517,400 2024 1,543,529 Sources:, Vietnam General Statistics Office.
Economy In 2015, the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) increased 8.7% compared with 2014. Agro-forestry-fishery accounted for 5.3%, industry and construction for 75.6% and service 19.1%. Industrial production value was estimated at VND 610 trillion, up 9.1%. The total retail sale of goods and consumer service revenue reached over VND 39.7 trillion, up 15.4%, the total export turnover of goods was estimated at US$23.2 billion, up 6.4%, the total state budget revenue in the province was estimated at VND 14,500 billion, up 14.3%.
Culture
Bắc Ninh was the homeland of eight Kings of the Lý Dynasty. The Đô Temple is where 8 kings of the Lý Dynasty are worshipped.
The village of Đông Hồ is known as the center of production of traditional Vietnamese woodblock prints (Đông Hồ painting), which are sold throughout Vietnam in time for the Lunar New Year (Tết) celebrations.Woodblock PrintingLisa Spivey, "Traditional Tet Paintings - Dong Ho Prints"
International relations Angola The leader expressed his wish to share the province's experience with Angola in investment promotion, contributing to fostering the friendship between the two peoples. They signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in forestry exploitation and processing, and the supply of construction workers in oil and gas to the African country.
Notes and references Notes
References
Further reading Bibliography
George Coedes. The Making of South East Asia, 2nd ed. University of California Press, 1983. Trần Ngọc Thêm. Cơ sở văn hóa Việt Nam (The Foundation of Vietnamese Culture), 504 pages. Publishing by Nhà xuất bản Đại học Tổng hợp TPHCM. Saigon, Vietnam, 1995. Trần Quốc Vượng, Tô Ngọc Thanh, Nguyễn Chí Bền, Lâm Mỹ Dung, Trần Thúy Anh. Cơ sở văn hóa Việt Nam (The Basis of Vietnamese Culture), 292 pages. Re-publishing by Nhà xuất bản Giáo Dục Việt Nam & Quảng Nam Printing Co-Ltd. Hanoi, Vietnam, 2006. Tập bản đồ hành chính Việt Nam (Vietnamese administrative maps), Nhà xuất bản Tài nguyên – Môi trường và Bản đồ Việt Nam, Hà Nội, 2013. Li Tana (2011). Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) in the Han period Tongking Gulf. In Cooke, Nola; Li Tana; Anderson, James A. (eds.). The Tongking Gulf Through History. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 39–44. ISBN 9780812205022. Li Tana, Towards an environmental history of the eastern Red River Delta, Vietnam, c.900–1400, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 2014. Samuel Baron, Christoforo Borri, Olga Dror, Keith W. Taylor (2018). Views of Seventeenth-Century Vietnam : Christoforo Borri on Cochinchina and Samuel Baron on Tonkin. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-501-72090-1. Nghị quyết số 723/NQ-UBTVQH15 về việc thành lập thị xã Thuận Thành và các phường thuộc thị xã Thuận Thành, thị xã Quế Võ và các phường thuộc thị xã Quế Võ, tỉnh Bắc Ninh. Phương án số 80/PA-UBND về việc tổng thể sắp xếp đơn vị hành chính cấp huyện, cấp xã tỉnh Bắc Ninh giai đoạn 2023–25.
External links
Bắc Ninh province official website Cities Clean Air for Smaller Cities in the ASEAN Region: Road Map Towards a Clean Air Plan for Bac Ninh, Vietnam Check-in Bắc Ninh through six places from MV Bắc Bling (vi) Talents who bring glory to their homeland, Bắc Ninh | Culture & Entertainment, Oct 29, 2025 — Magazine article about Trịnh Văn Vinh, Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, Vũ Tự Long, Hòa Minzy, visual artist Vũ Tú (vi) Hòa Minzy's 1000m² manor in Quế Tân ward (vi) The nearly 800-year-old pottery village where Hòa Minzy filmed her MV Bắc Bling (vi) MV “Bắc Bling” gây bão toàn cầu: Nghệ sĩ nước ngoài ngỡ ngàng trước sắc màu văn hóa Việt (vi)